(GMM) Turkish grand prix officials are reportedly investigating the possibility of appealing the FIA’s decision to impose a $5m fine for the politicisation of last month’s podium ceremony.

One of Turkey’s biggest newspapers, Zaman, claims that deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Ali Sahin is looking into whether an appeal can be made.

The report said that if an appeal is not possible, ‘the Turkish government will pay the fine’.

Initial investigations, however, indicate that the FIA’s World Motor Sport Council did not give sporting authority TOSFED (Turkiye Otomobil Sporlari Federasyonu) or the race organisers a right of appeal.

CNN Turk quoted Sahin as saying: ”I did not expect a fine that high. Presumably the FIA did not think that our defence was adequate.”

An FIA spokesman confirmed reports that $5m is the biggest fine ever handed down in racing.

Any appeal would likely focus on Turkey’s insistence that the podium antics were not planned, and that Mehmet Ali Talat fitted the FIA’s criteria for podium presentations as a figure of world stature.

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