The FIA (the governing body for motorsport) is in turmoil. According to the BBC, President Mohammed Ben Sulayem is being investigated for alleged interference.
Sulayem is accused of influencing the outcome of a Formula 1 race. According to the BBC, a whistleblower reported to the FIA that the president intervened to cancel a penalty imposed on Spanish driver Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin during the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix of 2023. It is alleged that Sulayem called Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa - vice president of the FIA for the Middle East and North Africa, who was in Saudi Arabia for the race in an official capacity - and made it clear that he believed Alonso's penalty (of 10 seconds for modifications to the car while serving a previous 5-second penalty) should be revoked.
At the heart of the matter might be a misunderstanding in the translation from Italian. The report had been drafted by Paolo Basarri, responsible for compliance of actions on the track, in which Basarri states that the informant reported that Ben Sulayem "demanded that the stewards overturn their decision to assign" the penalty to Alonso. The focus is on the translation of the verb 'to pretend'. The BBC highlights that the ethics committee will take between 4 to 6 weeks to draft its own report.
What happened
The incident dates back to the 2023 Saudi Arabian GP. In the final laps, Mercedes asked Russell, who was fourth, to reduce the gap to Alonso to less than five seconds, given that the Aston Martin driver was under investigation for the way he served the penalty. A mechanic, in fact, had lifted the car for a tire change during the stop, which could be considered as an unauthorized intervention, given the prohibition of working on the car during the penalty. Fernando Alonso, who finished third, was initially penalized ten seconds, causing him to lose his podium position. Subsequently, the FIA changed its decision, restoring the position to the Spanish driver.
This article is automatically translated