Mohammed Ben Sulayem: FIA President under investigation for alleged attempt to interfere over F1 race

[f1jcw]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/68465516

Mohammed Ben Sulayem, president of motorsport's governing body the FIA, is under investigation for allegedly interfering over a Formula 1 race result.

A whistleblower has told the FIA that Ben Sulayem allegedly intervened to overturn a penalty given to Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso at the 2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

The claim is in a report by an FIA compliance officer to its ethics committee, which has been seen by BBC Sport.

Ben Sulayem and the FIA have not responded to requests for comment.

The allegation made by the whistleblower is that Ben Sulayem called Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamas bin Isa Al Khalifa - the FIA's vice-president for sport for the Middle East and North Africa region, who was in Saudi Arabia for the race in an official capacity - and made it clear he thought Alonso's penalty should be revoked.

Alonso had been given a 10-second penalty for work done on his car while he was serving a previous five-second penalty.

The report, by compliance officer Paolo Basarri, says 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.

The penalty in question had dropped Alonso from third place - behind Red Bull drivers Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen - to fourth, also behind Mercedes' George Russell. Withdrawing it returned him to a podium position.

In addition, BBC Sport has verified the information with several senior figures at high levels in F1 and close to the FIA. None would go on the record, but all said they had the same information.

[f1jcw]

I think the sport needs a independent investigation into how the sport is run and go over the rules from the last few years. F1 needs to decide if it is a sport that is run fairly and to fair rules that are the same for everyone.

[Luscion]

Penalty in question

[f1jcw]

Hope Alex Wurz will take over.

[SoulPancake13]

Ever since Lewis to Ferrari got leaked, the F1 world has been bonkers... if only we could get this level of drama on the track

[vorticism]

*mod edit* removed unnecessary personal

Ever since Lewis to Ferrari got leaked, the F1 world has been bonkers... if only we could get this level of drama on the track

No thanks. I recommend Mario Kart if antics + motorsport is your interest. It's quite fun, and you're not just relegated to being a spectator.

[SoulPancake13]

Have you ever posted about an F1 car here on this F1 car engineering forum, OP?

Ever since Lewis to Ferrari got leaked, the F1 world has been bonkers... if only we could get this level of drama on the track

No thanks. I recommend Mario Kart if antics + motorsport is your interest. It's quite fun, and you're not just relegated to being a spectator.

Well I was clearly being hyperbolic... and I don't think it's crazy to say the races are a little more interesting when we have battles throughout the field, but that's not relevant to this thread.

[chrisc90]

Another whistle-blower in the sport.

Tell you what, there will be more and more of these stories coming out this year. When people realise they can make/leak a story to the press and get some money for it.

[Quantum]

Another whistle-blower in the sport.

Tell you what, there will be more and more of these stories coming out this year. When people realise they can make/leak a story to the press and get some money for it.

Not sure I understand this logic.
You want wrongdoing to remain under wraps because whistleblowing is bad?

[Jdn1327]

Another whistle-blower in the sport.

Tell you what, there will be more and more of these stories coming out this year. When people realise they can make/leak a story to the press and get some money for it.

Not sure I understand this logic.
You want wrongdoing to remain under wraps because whistleblowing is bad?

Well unnecessary whistleblowing...
Let's be honest...a lot of nonsense goes on behind the scenes...horner and Ben broke the 11th commandment...thou shalt not gey caught...

[littlebigcat]

What’s unnecessary whistle blowing?

[rijtuig]

Lol, imagine you being victim and they kept it under wraps.

Mod edit:
AD21 reference removed…

[Quantum]

Mod edit:
Off topic (quoted post) removed

Whistleblowing is not there for complaining to media or disagreeing with the way something has been done, it's there for breaches of outlined protocols.
How many more stories we get depends on the breaches of those protocols. If you don't have breaches to report you wont have whistleblowers. So I don't see why they're the problem.

It might help you to see that the FIA has a whistleblowing policy.
https://www.fia.com/fia-ethics-and-compliance-hotline

It very clearly has stipulations to raise concerns and how.

An online reporting platform – it allows anyone who is aware of
misconduct (“Reporting Person”) to raise legitimate and documented
concerns related to specific categories related to violation of the FIA
ethical principles, sport integrity, doping and violation of the F1 and FE
Financial Regulations

Only concerns raised in good faith – All concerns of misconduct must
be reported in good faith. The Reporting Person should have
reasonable grounds to believe that the information reported is true,
accurate and supported by evidence

If concerns are raised in bad faith – Using the platform intentionally, recklessly
or negligently in order to make a false or misleading representation for causing
harm will result in a discarded report and possible disciplinary measures
(including civil claim or criminal charges)

[Mattchu]

The guys also now allegedly told officials not to certify the Las Vegas track for the Grand Prix! Maybe he wanted the night-time glitz and glamour to not extend outside the Middle east...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/68478049

Sorry, just seen it has it`s own thread...doh!

[vorticism]

Times up.