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F1: FIA President Ben Sulayem Under Investigation for Alleged Race Interference Attempt

FIA's President Mohammed Ben Sulayem is facing allegations that he interfered with a steward's decision at the 2023 F1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

By Divyam Dubey

5 Mar, 2024

3 min read

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FIA PRESIDENT MOHAMMED BEN SULAYEM

Mohammed Ben Sulayem, president of the Formula One regulatory organisation, is allegedly the subject of an investigation into allegations of meddling with the race's outcome. According to the source, the 2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix is at the centre of the inquiry since a whistleblower claimed that Ben Sulayem attempted to have Alonso's 10-second penalty overturned. Some claim that Ben Sulayem spoke with a close associate during the event, Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamas bin Isa Al Khalifa, who is the FIA vice-president for sports in the Middle East and North Africa. The FIA's ethics committee is now reviewing the case, and Paolo Basarri, a member of the committee since 2017, has submitted a report on the topic.

F1: What is the Accusation?

After starting in third place, the 41-year-old Spaniard was penalised 10 seconds after the race and dropped to fourth. Because the stewards saw that the rear jack touched the car before the allotted five seconds had passed, the driver was penalised. This occurred because of an error in grid placement. More than 30 laps following the penalty's imposition, Alonso's team, Aston Martin, successfully appealed the judgement by submitting fresh evidence.

F1 Aston Martin jpg

The Silverstone-based squad brought attention to the fact that the Sporting Advisory Committee (SAC) debates did not reach a final decision on whether or not jacks contacting vehicles were considered prohibited. Aston Martin showed several videos depicting penalty pitstops involving different teams, including Mercedes, Alpine, Haas, and McLaren, in which jacks came into touch with the vehicles. Alonso was reinstated to third position after the stewards considered this new evidence and reversed their ruling on his 10-second penalty. Some felt that the FIA was causing unnecessary confusion by not clearly stating how rules should be interpreted.

F1: Ben Sulayem and Formula 1

During his time as president, which began at the end of 2021, Ben Sulayem has been the centre of controversy. Critics have questioned the FIA's ability to effectively regulate Formula 1 during his tenure. In recent months, the FIA has lost a number of notable individuals.

Plus, Formula One Management—the business arm of Formula One—has reacted negatively to Ben Sulayem after he made comments about the championship's financial worth on social media. Andretti was able to successfully navigate the procedure he unilaterally launched to admit an eleventh team onto the grid at the same time. The commercial rights holder put a stop to Andretti's F1 dreams by rejecting their application on business grounds.

As the previous season came to a close, the FIA under Ben Sulayem raised possible legal eyebrows by investigating Mercedes team head Toto Wolff and F1 Academy managing director Susie Wolff on suspicion of a conflict of interest. After all ten Formula One teams denied making any complaints, the probe was quickly dropped.

Source

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