The FIA has released a statement confirming that a report has been made in response to allegations surrounding president Mohammed Ben Sulayem.
F1’s governing body, The FIA, has responded to accusations of race manipulation made against its president Mohammed Ben Sulayem which are centered on the 2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, with an official statement.
Following the Bahrain Grand Prix which marked the start of the 2024 F1 season, BBC reported that two allegations involving president Ben Sulayem had been made to the FIA’s compliance officer.
It was purported that the FIA president demanded that the time penalty given to Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso at the 2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix be overturned.
The allegations in question came after Fernando Alonso was assessed a 10-second time penalty despite the fact that he had already served a five-second penalty. However the ruling was later overturned after Aston Martin protested and now recent reports have suggested that Ben Sulayem may have had an influence over the race’s outcome.
According to the whistleblower, Ben Sulayem contacted Abdullah bin Isa Al Khalifa, the president of the Bahrain Motor Federation and the FIA Vice-President for Sport in the Middle East, to have the decision overturned.
Additionally, the president allegedly asked for an error to be identified with the goal of preventing the newly constructed Las Vegas GP circuit from being homologated to Grade 1 status, as the event was set to make its debut in 2023.
The FIA released a statement addressing the situation, but it provided no information about the accusations or the individuals they have been made against.
The governing body also revealed that its Compliance Officer is looking into the grave allegations. The organization also expressed regret for the untimely public release of the information and emphasized the importance of following due process.
“The FIA confirms that the Compliance Officer has received a report detailing potential allegations involving certain members of its governing bodies,” the statement read.
“The Compliance Department is assessing these concerns, as is common practice in these matters, to ensure that due process is meticulously followed.
“It is unfortunate and a source of great concern that the matter has been disclosed to the media without any prior authorisation and that certain elements of the report were inaccurately reported.”
The incident has undoubtedly clouded the FIA, even though the governing body has not confirmed an ongoing compliance investigation into Ben Sulayem or offered more information regarding the allegations made.
According to the AP, the source of these claims is believed to be a former FIA employee who now works for Formula One Management. The FIA failed to respond after being approached for comment.
