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Fans Predict ‘Downfall of F1’ As FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem Under Investigation for Tampering F1 Race Results
FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem is embroiled in a scandal, accused of tampering with F1 race results. Read more.
Reports suggest that FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem is currently being investigated for his alleged interference with the results of last year's Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, specifically concerning Fernando Alonso's penalty.
A whistleblower reportedly informed BBC Sport and other pertinent authorities that Sulayem may have sought to overturn Alonso's timing penalty, which could have influenced the final race standings, according to sources of RacingNews365, who are aware of these developments.
Fans were not happy as soon as this news broke out; some even called it the 'Downfall of F1.'
Other reactions included:
During the race, Alonso initially finished in third place at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit. However, a post-race 10-second time penalty was imposed on him as repairs were done on his race car before fully serving a previously given five-second time penalty.
This led to the two-time World Champion being demoted from the third to the fourth position, but a later overturn of the penalty led to his reinstatement as the third-place finisher.
According to the whistleblower's account, Sulayem allegedly contacted FIA's vice president for sport in the Middle East and North Africa region, Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamas bin Isa Al Khalifa. Al Khalifa was officially present in Jeddah during the race. Sulayem's purported call was to insist on overturning Alonso's penalty.
BBC Sport came across the whistleblower's claims in an FIA report authored by compliance officer Paolo Basarri for its ethics committee. The report states that, according to the whistleblower, Sulayem expected the stewards to retract their decision about Alonso's 10-second time penalty.
Controversial Penalties and Rule Interpretations: A Closer Look
Alonso initially faced a five-second penalty for improperly positioning his car at the beginning of the race. The enforcement of this penalty occurred during his first pit stop. However, he received an additional 10-second penalty when the officials deemed Aston Martin had violated rules by prematurely attending to his car.
The violation specifically pertained to the car's contact with the rear jack before the completion of the required time, directly contradicting F1 regulations.
At that moment, the reversal of the initial decision by stewards was attributed to a previous discussion between F1 teams and the FIA about the rules of pit-stop servicing during penalty periods.
The review decision clarified there was no concrete consensus, contrary to what was earlier presented to the stewards, that a jack coming into contact with a vehicle constituted work being done on the car.
Following the then-existing rules under Article 54.4c of the sports regulations, no work could be done on the car while serving a penalty in the pit lane until the necessary penalty time had passed.
Following the Alonso incident and subsequent race completion, the regulations were modified to include that any contact with the car or driver by hand, tools, or equipment would be deemed as work. Had this clarification been previously established, the stewards' first decision would have been unquestionably correct.
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