FIA Chief Faces Fresh Allegations of Involvement in Attempt to Withhold License to Approve Vegas GP

Global motorsports governing body, the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) comes under the scanner once again as reports have surfaced on the president’s involvement in the certification of the Las Vegas Grand Prix which took place last year.

The latest report by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) alleges that the FIA president, Mohammed Ben Sulayem had told the officials to not certify the Las Vegas circuit for their race in the previous season.

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As per the report, it is the same whistleblower who has come forward with another allegation against the president. Just yesterday the BBC had also released a report which alleged Sulayem’ had asked the stewards to overturn their decision to penalise Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso during the 2023 Saudi Grand Prix.

The report quotes the whistleblower saying they were contacted by their manager, “who on behest of the FIA president instructed him to find some concerns to prevent the FIA from certifying the circuit before the weekend of the race”.

The whistleblower when asked to be more specific was quoted saying,” Issues on the circuit were meant to be artificially identified regardless of their actual existence, with the ultimate goal of withholding the licence.”

During the Vegas GP, Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz had hit a drain which got dislodged on the strip which is the centrepiece of the track and caused the chassis of the car to be destroyed. This in turn caused the cancellation of the first practice session as well.

The report suggested that the issues with the drain were due to the frame which was underground and beneath the cover getting cracked due to the force generated by the cars or Sainz’s collision.

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Ben Sulaymen since he took office in December 2021, has been under various controversies with this being the second in just two days.

Meanwhile, in the current F1 season, Max Verstappen went ahead and carried on his championship-winning form by winning the Bahrain GP to kick off the new season in dominant fashion once again. Sergio Perez, the fellow RedBull driver also finished second while Sainz who will be with Ferrari in the final season of his contract picked up the third spot.