05/03/2024
NEWS STORY
Latest claim alleges that the FIA president sought to deliberately impede the granting of official approval of the Las Vegas track.
The accusation comes in the wake of the claim that the FIA president sought to overturn the result of the 2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix by having a penalty issued to Fernando Alonso thrown out.
The report from the FIA's ethics committee, of which the Alonso penalty claim is part, is the result of allegations made by a whistle-blower within the sport's governing body.
The latest allegation concerns the whistle-blower alleging that 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".
According to the report, the whistle-blower says that "the purpose was to find fault with the track in order to withhold the licence".
"Asked to be more specific, (the whistle-blower) said that issues on the circuit were meant to be artificially identified regardless of their actual existence, with the ultimate goal of withholding the licence", reports the BBC, which claims to have seen the report.
"Unable to find any concerns with the circuit" officials subsequently "certified the circuit fit for the race".
With F1 being the promoter of the Las Vegas event this puts Ben Sulayem and the FIA on a direct collision course with the sport's bosses, adding to the bad feeling between the two bodies that has been building for some time and interestingly, the report admits that other people who were present at the time have a different recollection of events to the whistle-blower, who, it is understood, now works for Formula One Management.
"From a sporting and safety perspective, the Las Vegas circuit approval followed FIA protocol in terms of inspection and certification," says a spokesperson for the FIA. "If you recall, there was a delay in the track being made available for inspection due to ongoing local organiser construction works."
At a time the title already looks set to be going the same way as it did in 2022 and 2023, the off-track shenanigans appear to be the main form of entertainment, and much like the Horner saga this one has a very clear agenda.