Muhammed Ben Sulayem, the FIA president, has been referred to his own ethics committee for a second time after allegedly telling his officials to withhold a safety certificate ahead of last year’s Las Vegas Grand Prix.
The strange accusation comes as Max Verstappen spoke to the press here in Jeddah on Wednesday for the first time since his father Jos claimed that Red Bull would ‘explode’ if Christian Horner remained in his post as team boss.
It has been a gloomy few weeks for Formula 1, with the Horner saga dominating the agenda since the beginning of February. He was acquitted following an internal investigation into ‘coercive behavior’ towards a female employee and promised to remain in his post.
As for 62-year-old Ben Sulayem, it emerged earlier this week that he was accused of ordering officials to overturn a penalty awarded to Fernando Alonso during the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix a year ago.
According to the BBC, the same ‘whistleblower’ has now filed a complaint about Ben Sulayem’s handling of the Vegas spectacle last November. At the behest of the FIA president, the informant claims, his staff were told to find a way to declare the circuit unsafe.
Mohammed Ben Sulayem has been referred to an ethics committee for allegedly telling officials to withhold a safety certificate from the 2023 Las Vegas Grand Prix
Ben Sulayem reportedly acted to overturn a penalty given to Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso at the 2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix (pictured in 2022)
Mail Sport can reveal, from knowledge dating back to the past, that it was Ben Sulayem who personally certified the track the week of the race itself – a last-minute authorization that allowed the showpiece event to go ahead as planned.
An FIA insider indicated that Ben Sulayem’s enemies within the ‘Piranha Club’ are determined to injure him. They also say construction work has delayed the safety inspection.
An official statement from the FIA said: ‘The compliance officer has received a report detailing possible allegations involving certain members of the governing body.
“The compliance department is reviewing these concerns, as is customary in these matters, to ensure due process is rigorously followed.”