Hi friends,
Looking out my window at a layer of fresh snow – a sign that we’re close to the ending of the season.
Top Story of the Week: The GPDA Is “A Bit Fed Up” With FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem
If you read that story and thought, “Well, a bit fed up doesn’t sound all that serious”, I wouldn’t blame you. But we need to talk about the FIA, and in particular FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem (aka MBS).
Why is this important? Something is happening within the FIA. MBS has been the FIA President since December 2021, and in that relatively short time he’s already been involved in several controversies.
He oversaw the investigation into the highly controversial 2021 Abu Dhabi GP. He was at the helm when the FIA issued it’s controversial jewellery ban. He tried to block a unanimous decision by the F1 teams to add more sprints to the calendar. He was the driving force behind the FIAs ban of political or personal statements. He allegedly told officials to declare the Las Vegas circuit unsafe for the 2023 race. He has been investigated for attempting to interfere in the results of the 2023 Saudi Arabian GP. He’s been quoted as saying “women who think they are smarter than men, for they are not in truth”. And most recently he’s been causing controversy by coming down on swearing by F1 drivers, leading to Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc facing sanctions.
That’s by no means an exhaustive list, but you get the idea.
On top of all that, FIA Compliance Officer Paolo Bassari and Race Director Niels Wittich were both fired in recent weeks. And prior to that, a large number of leading figures have departed the FIA, reportedly due to growing discontent with the direction of the FIA and MBS’ leadership. The list includes Sporting Director Steve Nielsen, Head of the FIA Commission For Women Deborah Mayer, Single-Seater Technical Director Tim Goss, CEO Natalie Robyn, Director of Communications Luke Skipper and Secretary General of Mobility Jacob Bangsaard.
And now the GPDA, the official “union” for Formula 1 drivers, have taken aim at him as well. So while the quote from GPDA Director George Russell, that they’re “a bit fed up”, might not sound like more than a slight annoyance, I think it goes deeper than that. MBS has put himself in the crosshairs of the teams and the drivers, who are arguably some of the most powerful players in the FIA, with F1 accounting for a large part of the FIA’s income and influence.
MBS is up for reelection in 2025, and it’s looking likely that he will get another term, with a large number of the smaller motorsports associations backing him.
The question is: Can he keep their support, if F1 as a whole decides it is done with him?
The Rest of the Stories This Week:
- Formula 1 has modified the Las Vegas drain covers to avoid a repeat of the Sainz incident
- The Canadian GP will move to a weekend in May from 2026 onwards
- The FIA has issued a new technical directive, banning tricks to reduce plank wear
- F1 is working on a new rule, that will require teams who finish in the top 5 to design and manufacture more parts themselves
- Paolo Bassari has been fired from his position as FIA Compliance Officer
- We’re getting a bunch of special Vegas liveries: VCARB, Alpine, Sauber
- Sainz will take part in the Abu Dhabi post season test with Williams
- Domenicali is not leaving his role as F1 CEO
- Teams are pushing back against the cost cap adjustment for difference in wages between countries, that stand to benefit Sauber / Audi
- Damon Hill is leaving the Sky Sports F1 broadcast team
- British racer Alisha Palmowski gets the wildcard seat for F1 Academy in Qatar
- Yuki Tsunoda was almost denied entry into the US for the Las Vegas GP
- Williams and Duracell extended their partnership on a new multi-year deal
- Aston Martin and Puma announced a multi-year partnership
- A scam company selling fake tickets to the British GP was shut down by the UK authorities
- Frontier Games have reportedly cancelled F1 Manager 25
- Doriane Pin of F1 Academy and the Iron Dames went on Jimmy Kimmel Live
- MotoGP revealed their new logo and brand identity
- Arrow McLaren Indycar Team announces the departure of Team Principal Gavin Ward
- The Aston Martin Valkyrie will make it’s race debut at the 2025 WEC season opener in Qatar
- Iron Lynx will run Mercedes cars in WEC next season
- Ligier reveals the JS P325 LMP3 car for the 2025 ELMS season
- Pratt Miller Motorsports will join IMSA in LMP2 from 2025
- Lapz, an app for watching F1 on Apple Vision Pro, is no longer available after a FOM copyright notice
- The Aston Martin Valkyrie has broken the Silverstone track record for road-legal cars
- Jaguar reveals a new logo and identity, which has many people confused
And since you’re here, last week we (maybe) solved Formula 1’s Red Flag Problem. You should check it out.
That’s it for this week. Until next time, thank you for being here.
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