Under-fire FIA president Mohammed ben Sulayem has conceded day-to-day management of Formula One.
The 61-year-old Emirati’s shock determination comes after quite a lot of controversial weeks on the helm of world motorsport – together with the specter of authorized motion from Formula One, and the publicity of historic sexist remarks on his now-defunct private web site.
The FIA, which governs F1, insists Ben Sulayem’s transfer has lengthy been within the pipeline, and follows a restructuring of the organisation after he assumed the presidency from Jean Todt in December 2021.
But his revelation in a letter to the game’s crew principals and F1 bosses on Monday that the FIA’s director of single-seater racing Nikolas Tombazis ought to now be their fundamental contact has despatched ripples across the grid with the brand new season lower than a month away.
Sulayem, who stays accountable for the FIA, was centre stage in F1 final season, sitting with the drivers within the moments earlier than races, and handing out trophies at quite a lot of grands prix.
More just lately, he has used his social media platforms to handle the thorny subject of recent groups in F1.
However, in an extract of Ben Sulayem’s letter, which was printed by the Daily Mail newspaper, the previous rally driver wrote: “My stated objective was to be a non-executive president via the recruitment of a team of professional managers, which has now been largely completed.
“Therefore, going forward, your day-to-day contact for all matters on F1 will be with Nikolas and his team, while I will focus on strategic matters with my leadership team.”
Last month, Ben Sulayem was quoted on an archived model of his previous web site as saying that he does “not like women who think they are smarter than men”. The FIA stated the sexist remarks don’t replicate his beliefs.
He was additionally accused of “unacceptable” interference by F1 in response to a sequence of tweets wherein he stated a £16.2billion valuation of the game was “inflated”.
Ben Sulayem was advised that the FIA might be “liable” for harming the worth of F1’s homeowners, Liberty Media.
It is known that the high-profile controversies have prompted anger amongst quite a lot of crew principals and nationwide sporting authorities.
He clashed with seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton over the sporting of jewelry within the cockpit final season, whereas the FIA has just lately moved to stop drivers from making “political, religious or personal” feedback with out prior approval.
Speaking at Williams’ launch earlier this week, British-born Alex Albon stated the drivers have been “concerned” by the FIA’s determination to successfully silence them.
F1 boss Stefano Domenicali stated: “F1 will never put a gag on anyone. Everyone wants to talk, so to have the platform to say what they want in the right way the better it is.
“I believe the FIA will clarify what has been stated.”
On Wednesday, an FIA spokesperson advised the PA information company: “The president’s manifesto clearly set out this plan before he was elected – it pledged ‘the appointment of an FIA CEO to provide an integrated and aligned operation’, as well as to ‘introduce a revised governance framework’ under ‘a leadership team focused on transparency, democracy, and growth’.
“These goals, as well as the announcement of the new structure of the single-seater department, have been planned since the beginning of this presidency.
“The FIA president has a wide remit that covers the breadth of global motor sport and mobility, and now that the structural reorganisation in Formula One is complete this is a natural next step.”