Lewis Hamilton was fined 50,000 euros, with half of it suspended, for crossing the track during the Qatar Grand Prix following a collision with Mercedes team-mate George Russell
Governing body the FIA said on Thursday it was quadrupling the maximum fine stewards can impose from 250,000 euros.
"I have no idea what deserves a 1m euros penalty," said Ferrari's Charles Leclerc.
He said the rise was a "huge amount of money" and commented: "Some drivers are making less than that."
Haas driver Kevin Magnussen said the figure "sounds ridiculous", while Alpha Tauri's Daniel Ricciardo said it was "scary".
The figure is intended as a deterrent to dissuade teams and drivers from the most egregious or dangerous breaches of the regulations and the FIA pointed out that any fines already go towards funding motorsport development programmes.
There was no clarity on the sort of offence that a driver or team could commit to be hit with such a fine.
"We do need to be thinking about the message that sends out to those watching," said seven-time champion Hamilton added: "If they are going be fining a million, let's make sure 100% goes to a good cause.
"There is a lot of money in this industry and there is a lot more we need to do in terms of creating better accessibility and diversity. That's the only way they'll get that million from me."
Hamilton was recently fined 50,000 euros, with half of it suspended, for crossing the track during a live race at the Qatar Grand Prix earlier this month.
World champion Max Verstappen made reference to the fine he was given for touching the rear wing of Hamilton's car at the 2021 Brazilian Grand Prix.
"If touching a rear wing is $50k, I would like to know what a million is," he said.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso said: "It sounds not appropriate. It is the first news I had coming from you, so I need to understand better, but we are in a sport that is already considered very elite, very closed.
"We are raising some topics about sustainability, environment, we are all trying to do our sport to make this sport more accessible for everyone, so when you put this big numbers or something like that, it seems not right."
The FIA made the decision to raise the fine at a meeting of its legislative body the world motorsport council on Thursday.
A statement said: "This amount has not been reviewed nor amended for at least the last 12 years and does not reflect the current needs of motorsport."
-- Courtesy of BBC Sport