FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem has been out of the Formula One headlines for quite some time. His spat last season with Liberty Media over a reported $20bn offer to buy the commercial rights to F1 led to him being issued with a legal ‘cease and desist’ order.

Further his campaign to include an eleventh F1 team went down badly in the paddock and despite the FIA green lighting the Andretti application Liberty Media rejected it for a variety of reasons.

Ben Sulayem took office the week of the Abu Dhabi controversy which saw Max Verstappen win his first F1 drivers title and Lewis Hamilton fail to claim a record eighth. His first point of action was to sanction Hamilton for failing to appear at the FIA gala that year, which the top three drivers in the championship are mandated to attend.

 

 

 

Ben Sulaym crack down on rules

Next on the agenda was the issue of F1 drivers wearing jewellery who driving the cars. The FIA regulation banning this had been in force for years but not enforced. Given the bling nature of Hamilton’s appearance, he decided this new enforcement from the stewards was a personal attack on his ethnicity and culture.

The matter became even more pathetic when Lewis presented a doctors note to the stewards claiming to remove his nose piece would require a painful surgical procedure. Hamilton eventually won the day.

The FIA president is keen to make his mark on Formula One and has driven through a no exceptions crack down on drivers exceeding track limits. On the whole this has been welcomed by fans frustrated by the new Tilkerdome designed tracks built over the past 25 years, where the run off areas are just asphalt and present no penalty to a driver using them to correct a mistake.

Now Ben Sulaymaniyah has issued a new edict urging the stewards to clamp down heavily on F1 competitors who criticise the race officials in public. New powers have been regulated to empower the stewards as the International Sporting Code now reflects.

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Hiding behind online abuse

Rules on “misconduct” were updated in December last year and the FIA president claimed in a social media post this latest change was due to research conducted by the “United Against Online Abuse” organisation.

“As part of our ongoing fight against online abuse, recent investigations have shown that there is a direct link between negative comments from drivers and team members and increased hate directed towards officials on social media,” Ben Suklyamen wrote.

“At the last World Motor Sport Council, members approved a change to the definition of misconduct within the ISC following incidents in which high profile members of our sport have made statements towards officials that incite abuse. This change will ensure further support for the FIA officials and volunteers who dedicate their time to improving our sport, keeping it safe and fair.”

It is widely believed the latest revision to the “misconduct” clause was triggered by Sergio Perez. He blasted the race officials over team radio after being informed he had been given a five seance tine penalty saying “the stewards are a joke.”

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Free speech not respected in some cultures

Yuki Tsunoda was punished under the revised regulation for using offensive language after being held up by other drivers during the weekend of this year’s Austrian Grand Prix. He was fined a token €40,000 (£33,900), although half of which was suspended.

Whilst Tsunoda’s comments were not directed at the officials they fell into the new broader remit of the “misconduct” clause.

Now Ben Sulayem is playing the ‘online abuse’ card to ram through what many believe to be an attach on free speech. Having come from a middle eastern culture where this human right is not respected, clearly the FIA president thinks more authority in F1 and less freedom to expression opinions is a good thing.

Formula One already has a “bringing the sport into disrepute” regulation which can be applied for the most serious of matters, but this latest tweak in the misconduct clause appears petty.

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Fines increased to €1 million

“Our stewards must be prepared to show strength when combatting this form of abuse, and they have my full support, and the support of our International Sporting Code, when making their decisions,” said Ben Sulayem. “I urge them to show that the FIA will not allow abuse of any kind within our sport.”

Interestingly Ben Sulayem is the founder of United Against Online Abuse coalition and he previously claimed without data or evidence: “Imagine training your entire life for a dream only to be bombarded with threats and hate online. That’s the reality for 75% of athletes today.”

The FIA rule booked has been beefed up in other ways since the FIA presidents election in December 2021. The following year competitors were banned from making any policitcal statements at events and the maximum fine for breaches of the FIA conduct codes was raised from €250,000 to €1 million.

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Debate over referee rulings all part of the course

Former One drivers and team media personnel are amongst the most media savvy sports people in the world given in European countries the TV coverage at a race weekend includes over ten hours of coverage with a huge amount of comment expressed and interviews given.

They will simply find more politically correct ways to question the decisions of the officials which is the norm in all sport from the college playing fields to the international venues recently hosting the Paris 2024 olympics.

Further, given that regulations governing the rules of sport are often not merely black and white, it is part and parcel of a sporting event for the fans to debate decisions which fall into a grey area.

Finally, officials do not get it right all the time and the lack of transparency and refusal to give media interviews by those arbitrating the rules of fair play all feeds into the melting pot which sees the ‘referees’ criticised.

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Indycar champion rejects F1 drive

In Formula One land there is a notion that everyone should be grateful to be given the chance to participate in the world’s leading motorsports series. Drivers apparently should drop their lives elsewhere if offered the chance of a seat in the championship even if it means trundling around at the back of the field in a Sauber and being away from home for the majority of the year.

Indycar and Formula One were once intertwined with the globally famous Indianapolis 500 mile race as part of the F1 schedule. Thirteen Formula One drivers have won “the Greatest Spectacle in Racing,” and for those who believe the legendary event is just cars turning left, they have never experienced the eye watering speed hurtle around the famous ‘brickyard’ track just inches from the walls and at  average speeds in excess of 230mph.

In recent decades a Berlin wall style disconnect has arisen between F1 and Indycar, with the odd failed F1 driver transitioning to the series. But now there is a new influx of F1 lesser stars joining the series and on the whole they are welcomed and afforded acclaim for their time in Formula One… READ MORE