Sacked FIA official to challenge FIA president – Mohammed Ben Sulayem, the current president of the FIA is up for re-election in December this year, and its fair to say since Jean-Marie Balestre some 50 years ago there’s never been a less F1 sympathetic ruler in the Place de Concorde. There is a loose tradition, that FIA presidents will stand unopposed in their second and third terms but such have been the ructions made in the organisation by the incumbent, it was inevitable one faction who oppose Ben Sulyam who’d find a stalking horse.
The current president is the first since Balestre who has no previous F1 experience and given the importance of the blue ribbon event in the FIA’s portfolio of motorsports, it has been telling the number of disputes between the governing body and the teams and drivers.
Jewellery and underwear bans were first on Ben Sulyam’s agenda back in 2022, then the president was warned off by Liberty Media for suggesting the FIA was indeed the true owner of F1. More recently the Emirati has been hitting the headlines, with his authoritarian clampdown on drivers swearing, although he was forced to back down this year over his three strikes and a ban for repeat offenders.
Sainz Snr considered a challenge
In May, Carlos Sainz Snr indicated he may well run as a candidate in opposition of Ben Sulayem, although before the Austrian Grand Prix he announced his final decision which was to focus on his partnership with Ford in the Paris Dakar. The father of Carlos Sainz was considered to be a favourite in the F1 paddock to take on the incumbent president, despite his lack of F1 experience as a driver.
Ben Sulayem has further changed the articles in the FIA regulations which make it more difficult for a sitting president to be opposed. His proposals were ratified by the WMC last month, which now gives the FIA president a right of veto over any potential challenger.
Despite creating this barrier to entry, today a new challenger has announced his candidacy for the upcoming elections later this season. US born motorsports official Tim Mayer has declared his hand today and will hold a press conference in Silverstone on Friday. The 59 year old will now stand against the man who sacked him from his role as an F1 steward last November. According to the BBC Mayer has the necessary support to launch a challenge, which since the expansion of the FIA to 245 world wide member associations is not the easiest of tasks.
Mayer was sacked the same day as Formula Two race director Jeanette Tan and a week after another high profile FIA official, Neil Wittich the F1 race director was dismissed. The sin committed by Mayer was to represent the organisers of the USGP in Austin, Texas as they appealed a €500,000 fine for an unauthorised track invasion after the Grand Prix.
FIA ‘running out of people’
“They’re not doing themselves any favours,” said Mayer after the two race directors were sacked. “They are literally running out of people to do those jobs,” he said. To stand for the residency, a candidate must have the written support for several ‘vice presidents’ from the various regions around the world. Further, their administration’s proposed senior officials must also offer their public backing to the challenger.
The BBC report a source close to Mayer stating he now has the required constituents to launch a bid for the presidency. He will now have to set out his proposed agenda which will surely focus on delivering more openness and transparency, something Ben Sulayem promised, then went on to do the opposite.
When the topic of full time professional stewards was raised with the current president, his response was typical and representative of his desire to create ever increasing cash flows into the FIA. “It’s very nice talk,” he told Autosport about the calls for a change. “But when they say professional, and they want professional, they don’t want to pay for it. That is so obvious.”
The drivers wrote an open letter from the GPDA (Drivers union) complaining about the lack of consultation over new draconian penalties being proposed by the president, together with a request for him to reveal where the F1 fines were spent. His response was telling.
Wolff speaks on Bottas to Alpine rumour
FIA president refuses transparency
“But I don’t say, ‘oh, sorry, what about you?’ The drivers are getting over $100 million. Do I ask where they spend it? No, it’s up to them. It’s their right. So please, it’s not only me saying it is none of their business. We do whatever we do with our money. It’s our business. It’s also [the same] with them and their money. It’s their business.”
So much for the improved FIA transparency programme, the Emirati had stood for election upon. Following his dismissal, Mayer was vocal over how the FIA was being run presently. “For a federation that relies on volunteers to fire by text somebody who has made a significant contribution does not speak well of the management of the federation,” he told the BBC at the time.
Maybe critical of FIA direction
He claimed Ben Sulayem had “taken offence” to his role in repenting the USGP organisers in a perfectly legitimate process called “a right of review.” He added: “The official reason that will be given is they felt there was a conflict of interest with the FIA as I had led the right of review in my role as organiser.
“But that is not why I was fired. Being an organiser is a role that I have fulfilled, benefiting the FIA, for over 12 years. This isn’t new. In spite of the matter being resolved quietly and amicably, he’s still upset and decided to fire me. After 15 years of volunteering my time as a steward, a decade teaching other stewards and hundreds of hours volunteering in other roles, I got a text from one of his assistants.”
A statement from the FIA denied Mayer was sacked by text, but no supporting evidence was provided to the contrary. Given the number of ‘backers’ a candidate for the FIA presidency requires, it means Mayer has no blocked out any other challengers, as their entrance into the race would merely split the anti-Ben Sulayem vote.
Will he, won’t he leave? The latest on Verstappen’s move to Mercedes
Max Verstappen is once again the obsession of the Formula One paddock, although it not for his record breaking feats of 2023 and neither is it about his driving style. The Max to Mercedes chronicle rolled on further during the Austrian Grand Prix when both Toto Wolff and George Russell claimed he had been in talks with the silver arrows team.
Despite his desperate plight in terms of claiming a record fifth consecutive F1 drivers’ title, Verstappen over the past weeks and months has appeared to be as relaxed and amusing in the much hated interviews he has to give. Some interpret this as a weight being lifted from his shoulders because a decision has been made on where he will be racing in the near future.
The Red Bull driver appeared remarkably unfazed in Austria, when Kimi Antonelli sent his Mercedes into turn 3 like a torpedo, wiping out himself and Verstappen before half a lap of there Grand Prix was complete. Max chatted away amicably to Antonelli as they extracted themselves from the crash site, again some believe this demonstrates he is not going to rage against his future team.
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