FIA pursues rule revisions following allegations against president
F1 News
The FIA is looking to revise its policies in order to reduce the mechanisms for holding its leadership accountable for poor governance, BBC Sport reports. This means that FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulaymen would neutralise the abilities of informers to clearly expose questionable behaviour to the ethics and audit committees.
The changes would place oversight of ethics complaints in the hands of the FIA president and the president of its senate, removing the senate’s broader role in such matters. Additionally, the audit committee’s authority to independently probe financial concerns would be stripped. These proposals follow a year marked by investigations from the ethics and audit committees into allegations regarding FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem's conduct.
According to BBC Sport, the audit committee would be unable to investigate any matter unless 'asked by the president of the senate.' The FIA president, therefore, is removing the role of the compliance officer and the senate in his operations, meaning that he would have more free reign overall. The 12-person senate includes Toyota chairman Akio Toyoda and Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim Domit.
The revisions will be a series of proposed changes to the statutes regulating the audit and ethics committees. It has been shared with member clubs for approval during a vote at the FIA General Assembly on December 13.
FIA under fire:
Formula 1's governing body has been a mainstay in the news in recent weeks. Multiple controversies have shadowed the on-track action, including these:
Sporting director Niels Wittich was relieved of his post after the Brazilian Grand Prix. The FIA said that Wittcih had resigned, but in reality, the German had been let go and replaced with F2 race director Rui Marques. It's been suggested that he was sacked after a fallout with Mohammed Ben Sulayem.
Steward Tim Mayer was also let go by the FIA after Ben Sulayem was apparently upset with the way he handled a track invasion saga at the United States Grand Prix in Texas. He's since stated that he was sacked by text message.
Ben Sulayem recently responded to the GPDA (Grand Prix Drivers Association), stating that it was 'none of their business' as to how things were handled after the recent swearing controversy.
The chopped and changed workforce was under fire for their race direction of the recent Qatar Grand Prix. Max Verstappen's questionable one-place grid penalty in qualifying was followed up by more indecisiveness in the race. Alex Albon's wing mirror came off and was left in a very dangerous position in the only overtaking area on the track at turn one. It was eventually run over by Valtteri Bottas, with Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton suffering from punctures due to the delayed decision to put a safety car on the track.
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