The FIA has denied that the legality of its latest rule changes is in doubt after a BBC report, which raised concerns about the validity of the resolutions passed on Wednesday by the World Motor Sport Council.
Britain’s two representatives on the council, Robert Reid, the FIA’s deputy president for sport, and David Richards, the chairman of Motorsport UK, were both barred from the meeting, allegedly for refusing to sign a non-disclosure agreement.
The BBC says legal letters have since been exchanged which “raises questions as to whether decisions made by the world council – including regarding rules for the forthcoming F1 season – will be legitimate”.
An FIA spokesperson said the claim over validity of the changes, which include an increase in the number of mandatory pit stops at this year’s Monaco race, was not correct. “This is not correct, the meeting was valid and in accordance with WMSC governance,” he said.
Mohammed Ben Sulayem, the Emirati president of motorsport’s world governing body, complained at the end of last season about an “unfair bias” against him by British media.
According to the BBC report, the 63-year-old reportedly wanted members of the WMSC, which also includes F1’s chief executive Stefano Domenicali, to sign a new NDA, a stricter form of a document by which members were already bound, because of concerns about leaks to the media. It is unclear how many WMSC members refused other than the two Britons. Reid, who supported Ben Sulayem’s election just over three years ago, has been sidelined in recent months.
Ben Sulayem was elected in December 2021, in the wake of the biggest controversy of modern F1 when Lewis Hamilton was denied an eighth world title on the final lap of the final race of the year. He is running for re-election at the end of his first term in December. No one has yet put themselves forward to stand against him.
The Emirati has overseen an exodus of employees over the past 18 months with some accusing him of bullying behaviour. Former steward Tim Mayer warned after being sacked last year that the FIA was “running out of people to do those jobs”. The FIA recently announced a high performance programme for officials.
Ben Sulayem has denied improper behaviour, saying the allegations are spurious. “If you look at the British media and what they did to me… for God’s sake, they convicted me. They didn’t accuse me [of anything], but they keep on [going]. And do I care? No. Why? Because what are they after? They are after selling and getting more coverage for them[selves]. Of course, yes. But they have no power over me and over the FIA.”
Ben Sulayem has also been taken to court in France by Susie Wolff, the managing director of the all-female F1 Academy series and the wife of Mercedes F1 team principal Toto Wolff, over the FIA’s short-lived conflict-of-interest inquiry into her relationship with her husband. The case is ongoing.
