How safe is FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem?
After being investigated and acquitted by his own Ethics Committee over alleged race-fixing and circuit certification tampering, can the FIA President survive the latest onslaught?
A mere five hours after FIA President Mohamed Ben Sulayem was acquitted by his own Ethics Committee, the next torpedo was launched in the form of Susie Wolff confirming that she filed a criminal complaint in the French courts against the governing body.
Towards the end of last year, a compliance inquiry was launched into Wolff and her husband Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff by the FIA, following allegations of a conflict of interest between the pair.
The first reports emerged in the Daily Mail during the Las Vegas Grand Prix, with the matter being amplified by a news item in Business F1 magazine under the headline: “Team principals seek a resolution over Wolff’s conflicts of interest”.
Susie Wolff is managing director of F1 Academy and the story centred around concerns that the pair were privy to confidential information between the F1 commercial rights holder that would not normally be available in regular channels, which could therefore be viewed as a conflict of interest.
It was brought to the attention of the FIA whose Compliance Officer, Paolo Basarri, looked into the matter. A statement followed: “The FIA is aware of media speculation centred on the allegation of a confidential nature being passed on to an FIA team principal from a member of FOM personnel (a reference to owners Liberty Media - Formula One Management). The FIA compliance department is looking into the matter”.
Basarri has expertise in corporate compliance at Japanese tobacco firm JTI, contributed to legal matters at industrial firm CNH, and gained insights into internal auditing at Stellantis. As part of the bringing matters to the FIA Compliance Hotline, reporting persons must have “reasonable grounds to believe that the information reported is true, accurate and supported by evidence,” according to the FIA.
“Using the platform intentionally, recklessly or negligently in order to make a false or misleading representation for causing harm will result in a discarded report and possible disciplinary measures (including civil claim or criminal charges).”
The investigation was subsequently withdrawn after two days, after a unified response from Mercedes, the other nine teams, and F1 Management who all issued statements rebutting the claims reported in media.
In the aftermath, Wolff criticised the FIA for not speaking to her directly after her integrity had been called into question: “This episode has so far taken place without transparency or accountability. I have received online abuse about my work and my family. I will not allow myself to be intimidated and intend to follow up until I have found out who has instigated this campaign and misled the media”.
Wolff has subsequently launched a criminal complaint with French courts aimed at the FIA. Under French law, defamation is a criminal offence and defined as “any allegation or imputation of an act which harms the honour or the consideration of the person or body to which the act is imputed”.
A short statement was issued on Wolff’s social media channels, calling out the need for the FIA to be more transparent which earned the support of seven-time F1 World Champion Lewis Hamilton and George Russell.
The FIA’s procedure was recently outlined in the wake of the ethics inquiry surrounding Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner. The governing body confirmed in a statement that both the Compliance Officer and Ethics Committee “operate autonomously” which guarantees “strict confidentiality throughout the process” for those involved.
They added: “As a consequence, and in general, we are unable to confirm the receipt of any specific complaint and it is unlikely that we will be able to provide further comment on the complaints that we may receive from any parties”.
The F1 and FIA power play
It is currently unknown who attempted to discredit the Wolff’s, but it is no secret that these all come amid the backdrop of controversies for the FIA President. There has been a relentless power-play between the FIA and F1 Management since Ben Sulayem started his four-year term in 2022, following a two-thirds majority in an FIA membership vote.
At the centre of the conflict is Liberty Media’s push for increasing revenues and shareholder value versus the FIA, who under Ben Sulayem, want to put the interests of the National Sporting Authorities (ASNs) first.
The F1 World Championship was founded in 1950 by the FIA, and Liberty Media only owns the rights to the commercial aspects of the championship. For his part, President Ben Sulayem is attempting to manage the burden of ASN memberships (those that organise, host F1 races, and provide essential services including marshalling, scrutineering, timekeeping etc..), while Liberty Media increase the amount of races on the calendar year-on-year.
Liberty Media shareholders are demanding increasing returns, having acquired the rights at an enterprise valuation of $8 billion in 2017. This means higher race hosting fees, broadcasting rights, and sponsorship fees which have been driven by F1’s exponential growth since 2018. All of this directly impacts the the fans, who see higher ticket and TV subscription prices.
When stories emerged last year that the Saudi Arabian Public Investment fund attempted to purchase F1 for $20 billion, Ben Sulayem received a ‘cease-and-desist’ letter from F1’s lawyers after comments made on social media urging potential investors to “apply common sense” and to consider “the greater good of the sport,” the “future impact on promoters” and “adverse impact it could have on fans.”
Questions have been levelled over whether Ben Sulayem will survive the latest onslaught, given that he was only recently investigated internally and acquitted over allegations of result-fixing at last years Saudi Arabian Grand Prix and interfering with the track certification process at the Las Vegas GP.
The governing body’s membership are the ones that determine the presidency, not Liberty Media, F1 personnel, or team principals. Former President Max Mosley survived a no-confidence vote in 2008 in light of lewd stories published in the News of the World, even if there was a few ASN heads within the FIA that rallied behind Bernie Ecclestone and wanted him ousted.
Ben Sulayem has since taken a hands-off, non-executive role in handling F1 affairs which is where FIA CEO Nathalie Robyn came in for the day-to-day. As long as he continues the serve the interests of the FIA member clubs, Ben Sulayem is likely to remain in office for the foreseeable.
The question is whether they feel the optics of the current news stories are affecting the reputation of the FIA, which will likely be a factor when the next presidential elections take place in 2025.
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