The FIA's Staff Exodus and Controversies
Nov 28, 2024 at 3:24 PM
The Formula 1 regulator, the FIA, is currently facing a deepening embarrassing saga. Fresh significant exits have added to the exodus of senior personnel tied to president Mohammed Ben Sulayem. Rui Marques, the FIA F1 race director who only replaced Niels Wittich for last weekend's Las Vegas Grand Prix, now has to manage Formula 2 sessions in Qatar along with his F1 responsibilities. This high-pressure double-up is a result of Janette Tan, Marques' successor, being stood down before even performing the F2 race director role. It has emerged that this is related to Tan's role as director (race operations) for the Singapore Grand Prix.At the same time, Tim Mayer, a long-serving FIA contributor as an unpaid steward and delegated in the US, was told by text message that his services were no longer required. Although the FIA has not commented specifically on either case, Mayer told the BBC that the official reasoning was a conflict of interest. It is unclear if Tan's removal as F2 race director is based on similar logic. Mayer, the son of McLaren co-founder Teddy, is widely regarded as one of the FIA's best stewards. His contributions over a decade with the governing body include coordinating US motorsports and serving as a steward in F1 and World Endurance Championship, as well as teaching and working on multiple commissions.Ahead of the Qatar GP on Thursday, Mayer told the BBC that the FIA is "literally running out of people to do those jobs," referring to Marques being under "incredible pressure" to be race director for both categories on the same weekend. This comes in the middle of an intense F1 triple-header and after Marques led race control at the Macau Grand Prix the week before Las Vegas. F1 drivers have not been impressed with the recent volatility within the FIA, and the latest developments have emerged ahead of a crucial point of feedback.A drivers meeting is due to take place on Thursday evening in Qatar with FIA race control and stewards for an annual review that will also include a follow-up conversation to the discussion in Mexico regarding adapting F1's controversial racing guidelines. The news of further turnover in the FIA ranks is an escalation in a concerning public narrative for the organization and its president. It is exacerbated by Mayer's decision to go on the record with a candid interview with the BBC.Mayer says Tan's exit means the FIA has lost "the best of the next generation of race directors," that Ben Sulayem has "directly involved himself" in matters like a controversial swearing clampdown, and that Mayer himself was sacked because Ben Sulayem felt Mayer had committed "a personal attack on him" recently. This relates to Mayer's role in a recent dispute between the FIA and the US Grand Prix organisers, where he was working in an independent capacity as a representative for US Race Management. Mayer was part of the initial stewards' hearing when the US GP was criticized and punished for fans invading the track at the end of the race, and then involved in a right of review as the circuit and the organiser took issue with the assertion they "failed to take reasonable measures thus resulting in an unsafe condition". The fresh decision determined no breach of the International Sporting Code but of the sporting regulations instead, and still imposed a €500,000 fine – €350,000 of which was suspended until December 31 2026. Mayer called Ben Sulayem's reaction "baffling" and said "there was no cause for his feelings to be hurt when everyone else dealt with this in a professional manner".After the news came out, the FIA offered a justification for Marques' expanded role, saying that "the demands on the race director have become a lot less onerous due to the support structure that has been implemented" during F1 weekends. "The Race Director is now free to focus entirely on race management without being burdened by peripheral duties," the FIA said. "He has at least four people supporting him in Race Control, a dedicated technical and IT department to support specifically on issues such as track limit detection and stewarding. We also have four-six people on duty at the Remote Operations Centre in Geneva providing live support during every Formula 1 session, qualifying and race." The FIA also dismissed the claim of a shortage of available race direction personnel, pointing to its High Performance Programme in which "there are currently a number of candidates engaged" who have already taken part in the carrying out of race control duties at world championship rounds including F1 – and who "are earmarked for future roles across a range of FIA categories".It is not the first time that Ben Sulayem has been called out in public. The Grand Prix Drivers Association recently criticized him, and his interference on F1 matters has courted controversy during the majority of his presidency over the last three years. The sheer number of senior figures to have left, either at Ben Sulayem's direct instruction or as a consequence of his leadership, was already alarming. The increase in dissent – publicly and privately, as other parts of the FIA have been critical of Ben Sulayem's regime – is another escalation in the crisis. It reflects extremely poorly on an organization that, while staffed with a lot of committed and competent individuals, seems to be increasingly hamstrung by the actions of its leader.
