Drumil Modi, Pune
Mohammed Ben Sulayem the FIA president is under investigation for allegedly trying to interfere with the Formula 1 race results.
The story leads back to the 2023 Saudi Arabian GP where Fernando Alonso finished third on the podium before a 10-second penalty was put on him for the team allegedly touching the car during the penalty stop, resulting in him being demoted to fourth position.
Later the penalty was reinstated by the stewards, restoring Alonso’s prdium.
Ben Sulayem was under investigation after a whistleblower accused him of trying to interfere with race results by attempting to reinstate Alonso’s 10-second penalty.
The sources suggest that Ben Sulayem called Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamas bin IsaAl Khalifa, FIA vice president for the Middle East and North Africa region and also called an ally of his who was at the race venue.
The allegations are being investigated by the FIA’s ethics committee and the report is currency in possession of FIA compliance officer Paolo Basarri, who has been part of the organization since 2017.
When the incident happened the focus was on Aston Martin sporting director Andy Stevenson, who was able to successfully convince the stewards and get their podium finish reinstated. It was also among the few times stewards accepted new evidence and made a decision that was local and fair.
It led to an FIA investigation related to touching cars at penalty pitstops giving the teams more clarity on the rule.
The sage began when Alonso was accused of having stopped too far on the grid to the side of the grid box allotted to him, Alonso subsequently had to take a five-second penalty at the pitstop. Mercedes viewed the video of the penalty stop and alerted the FIA that the rear jack was touching the car.
The FIA looked into the accusations via its remote operations facility in Geneva, and from there the matter went to the stewards.
The stewards believed that it had previously been made clear that jacks could not touch the car during a penalty stop. However, the Silverstone team demonstrated to the stewards that no firm agreement on jacks touching the car was made.
Stevenson also showed video evidence of previous penalty pitstops where Mercedes, Alpine, Alpha Tauri, McLaren and Haas jacks were touching.
The change in result led to criticism of the FIA because it seemed like they were in doubt about what the rules were.
FIA after further discussions with team managers issued new protocols at the Australian GP on touching cars during penalty stops.