14 March 2024 , 14:25
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George Russell and his Mercedes boss Toto Wolff have called for transparency from the FIA amid the ongoing investigation into president Mohammed ben Sulayem.
The 62-year-old was reported to the ethics committee of Formula 1's governing body after a whistleblower came forward. They alleged that Ben Sulayem had attempted to have a penalty given to Fernando Alonso at last year's Saudi Arabian Grand Prix overturned.
The Spaniard was given a 10-second penalty for not properly serving an initial five-second sanction during the race. While stopped in the pits, camera angles showed the rear jack touching his car which was judged by the stewards to be akin to working on the car while serving the first penalty.
But Aston Martin protested that decision after the race and showed evidence of previous examples where other teams and drivers had not been penalised for such an act. The 10-second penalty was later overturned by the stewards and Alonso's podium finish was reinstated.
However, earlier this month it was claimed that Ben Sulayem had personally got involved in the matter. The BBC reported that FIA compliance officer Paolo Basarri had been told by the whistleblower that the president had asked "the stewards to overturn their decision" to hand out the penalty.
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The matter is currently being weighed up by the FIA's ethics committee. The BBC reports that a final report is expected to take at least a month, possibly longer.
Russell was the one who had gained from the penalty as he inherited third place from Alonso. When the penalty was later revoked, the Spaniard moved back up into third place and the Mercedes driver dropped back down to fourth.
Speaking about the investigation in Jeddah this year, the Briton said: "I think we want to see all of the facts and just have total transparency. We're all racing here. We want a fair and level playing field for us to showcase what we can do. I can't really comment further.
"We were surprised a year ago when the result got overturned, as the legal team at Mercedes thought they did a great job of presenting our case and initially winning the case and then losing it thereafter. So we just want to see transparency and have the opportunity to race on a fair playing field."
Team boss Wolff gave a similar statement, adding: "The FIA will follow its processes here, I am convinced of that. I think we have all learned that we have to be transparent. We are at the top of the sport and we have a lot of fans. Then things happen that simply don't belong here and are not what most people here want."