FIA president under investigation for 'interfering with F1 race result'

04 March 2024 , 19:12

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FIA president Mohammed ben Sulayem (Image: PA)

Mohammed Ben Sulayem, the president of the FIA, is at the centre of an investigation after allegedly interfering with a Formula 1 race result.

Ben Sulayem, top boss of motor sport’s governing body since 2022, allegedly intervened to overturn a controversial penalty given to Fernando Alonso during last year’s Saudi Arabia Grand Prix, according to a whistleblower.

The penalty had seen Alonso drop from third place to fourth. Withdrawing it returned him to a podium position at the expense of Mercedes’ George Russell five hours later.

The claim is in a report by an FIA compliance officer to its ethics committee, seen by the BBC. It’s alleged that Ben Sulayem called Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamas bin Isa Al Khalifa - an FIA vice-president who was in Saudi Arabia for the race in an official capacity - and made clear Alonso's penalty should be revoked.

Former world champion Alonso, driving for Aston Martin, had been handed a 10-second penalty for work done on his car while serving a previous five-second penalty.

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Aston Martin were judged to have contravened the rules by working on his car after Alonso’s vehicle had been touched by the rear jack before the full time duration had elapsed, in contravention of F1 rules.

The report, by compliance officer Paolo Basarri, says that the whistleblower reported that Ben Sulayem "pretended the stewards to overturn their decision to issue" the penalty to Alonso. In Italian, the word "pretendere" means to require or expect.

The ethics committee is expected to take four to six weeks to issue its report.

It took five hours to decide whether or not Fernando Alonso had finished third or fourth in Jeddah (HOCH ZWEI/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images)

The justification given by the stewards for overturning the decision at the time referred to a discussion that had taken place between the F1 teams and the FIA on the subject of working on cars while serving a penalty in the pits.

It said: "We concluded that there was no clear agreement, as was suggested to the stewards previously, that could be relied upon to determine that parties had agreed that a jack touching a car would amount to working on the car."

At the time, article 54.4c) of the sporting regulations said: "While a car is stationary in the pit lane as a result of incurring a penalty in accordance with Articles 54.3a) or 54.3b) above, it may not be worked on until the car has been stationary for the duration of the penalty."

After the race - following the Alonso situation - an additional sentence was added: "In this context, touching the car or driver by hand or tools or equipment will all constitute working."

Alex Richards