20/11/2022
NEWS STORY
FIA president, Mohammed ben Sulayem dismisses claims that former Mercedes lawyer leaked budget cap suspicions to German media.
Other than the actual rights and wrongs of the budget cap breach, when it was first reported that Red Bull had exceeded the cap there was immediate concern over where the details of the media reports were coming from.
The breach was first reported in the German media and consequently from the outset Mercedes was voicing its concern that its main rival had - to use Andreas Seidl's expression - "cheated".
Even when the FIA eventually concluded its investigation and made its findings public, there remained concern at the possibility the breach had been deliberately leaked to the media.
Christian Horner, who, prior to the FIA revealing its findings, had threatened action against those parties claiming Red Bull had exceeded the cap now turned his attention to the source of the original report in the German media.
"Any form of leakage is hugely worrying," said the Briton. "It's something that we expect to be followed up."
As ever, Helmut Marko went that little bit further, the Austrian all but pointing the finger at the FIA's interim Secretary General for Motorsport, Shaila-Ann Rao, former general counsel for Mercedes and special advisor to Toto Wolff.
Following her appointment to the role, in which she was replacing Peter Bayer the man who had led the investigation into the events of Abu Dhabi 2021, Toto Wolff was quick to defend the move, a move which Red Bull and Ferrari had questioned.
"Shaila-Ann, she was at the FIA before she joined us," he said. "She was CEO of one of the largest sports agencies before and the positive of having Shaila-Ann in this position is she's one about governance and transparency.
"She's a lawyer. I think this is something we have always criticised in the past, that things weren't always as transparent and as clear for the teams. This is one of the key topics she will be trying to implement. And that is good news for all of the teams."
Speaking in Abu Dhabi, FIA president, Mohammed ben Sulayem was keen to dismiss speculation of bias, suggesting that Rao had actually been sympathetic to Red Bull.
"I'll be very honest with you, and I'll defend my opinion, but when it comes to Shaila-Ann, there were accusations that she is mainly a supporter of Mercedes," he said. "But actually, when the penalties were there with both teams, she said that's a bit harsh.
"I looked and said: 'My god, there is someone who is accusing her of being with Mercedes, and she's saying to me that it's harsh on Red Bull'." he added.
Nonetheless there has been speculation that she might step down from her role as a result of the saga.
"Her position is interim secretary general, and the interim, what does interim mean?" said ben Sulayem. "Shaila-Ann has been supportive a lot to me. You see her intelligence when it comes to setting big decisions for me."
As for the leak, the FIA president all but said it's the way it is.
"On the leak, we were in Austria, we were having the F1 Commission meeting, and while we were talking about it, it was already in the news," he said. "It's frustrating sometimes, because before you've finished your meeting, something has got out."
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