FIA President under investigation for alleged interference in F1

Mohammed Ben Sulayem, president of motorsport governing body the FIA, is under investigation after a whistleblower made claims against him regarding interference over a F1 race result and the certification of the Las Vegas Grand Prix.

FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem has been accused of interfering in the results of the 2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. (Mark Thompson/Getty Images)

As reported by the BBC, a report from a FIA compliance officer to its ethics committee contains the claims, which centre on the 2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

“The allegation made by the whistleblower is that Ben Sulayem called Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa - the FIA's vice-president for sport for the Middle East and North Africa region, who was in Saudi Arabia for the race in an official capacity - and made it clear he thought Alonso's penalty should be revoked,” reports the BBC chief F1 writer Andrew Benson.

Another claim from the same whistleblower is that the FIA president made an attempt to cancel the Las Vegas Grand Prix, which is operated by Formula 1.

“The report quotes the whistleblower saying they were contacted by their manager, "who on behest of the FIA president instructed him to find some concerns to prevent the FIA from certifying the circuit before the weekend of the race,” reports Benson for the BBC.

The reports adds to a series of incidents involving the FIA and Ben Sulayem, with the president most recently reported to have told Red Bull driver Max Verstappen that he should publicly back team boss Christian Horner as he faced an allegation of employee misconduct.

That allegation was dismissed by the F1 team’s parent company, Red Bull GmbH, with Horner denying any wrongdoing.