FIA president under investigation for ‘interfering with F1 race result’

A whistleblower has informed the FIA of a specific request last year from Mohammed Ben Sulayem

Mohammed Ben Sulayem is under investigation for allegedly interfering with an F1 race result (Getty Images)

FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem is under investigation by his own body after allegedly interfering with the race result of last year’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

Ben Sulayem, president of Formula 1’s governing body since 2022, allegedly intervened when Fernando Alonso was given a 10-second penalty after the 2023 F1 race in Jeddah, according to a whistleblower.

The penalty dropped Alonso post-race from third to fourth, though the Spanish driver’s podium was reinstated a matter of hours later.

The accusation is within a report from FIA compliance officer Paolo Basarri to its ethics committee, seen by the BBC.

It details that Ben Sulayem, not present last March at the race, called the FIA’s vice-president for sport for the Middle East and North Africa region and insisted Alonso’s penalty should be revoked.

Ben Sulayem, in the call to Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamas bin Isa Al Khalifa, expected “the stewards to overturn their decision.”

The Independent has approached the FIA for comment.

The final report from the ethics committee is expected within four to six weeks.

Fernando Alonso’s podium in Saudi Arabia was reinstated after an Aston Martin appeal (Getty Images)

Alonso was originally celebrating his second podium in a row for Aston Martin after coming home third, before he was hit with a 10-second time penalty for not serving a five-second penalty correctly in the pits, demoting him to fourth.

However, Aston appealed soon after the race due to a technicality in the rulebook and as the clock hit 1am in Jeddah, Alonso’s third-place finish was reinstated and subsequently his 100th podium in Formula 1.

Originally, the Spaniard had to serve a five-second time penalty for not being in the correct grid spot at the start of the grand prix.

Alonso served the penalty at his first pit stop but upon review, work started on his car milliseconds too early, with the rear jack raised too soon.

However, Aston Martin team principal Mike Krack reffered to “ambiguity” in the regulations regarding what constitutes “working” on the car - and the stewards decided to reverse the 10-second penalty and thus Alonso was restored to third place.