by VALERIO BARRETTA
F1, another scandal? Ben Sulayem under investigation for Jeddah 2023
A few days before the Jeddah weekend, the second round of the Formula 1 World Championship, the Circus is involved in a new potential scandal. FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem, in fact, is under investigation for alleged interference with the result of the 2023 race on the Saudi circuit.
An informant reported that Ben Sulayem himself would have intervened to cancel the penalty given to Fernando Alonso, favoring his third place in the race, as supported by the report to the ethics committee drawn up by FIA Compliance Officer Paolo Basarri. The news is reported by BBC. The FIA and Ben Sulayem did not want to comment, but sources within F1 and close to the Federation – contacted by their English colleagues – say they have the same information.
Already last year the penalty to Alonso – imposed after the match but sensationally revoked a few hours later – caused a lot of discussion. It all started with a five-second penalty given to the Spaniard for an irregularity at the start. This measure – severe but fair – was served in the pits under the Safety Car regime. According to the regulations, if a penalty in terms of seconds is served, the mechanics cannot carry out any operations on the car: at that moment the AMR23 was lifted onto the stands, which was initially interpreted as “work on the car” and resulted in another 10″ penalty for the Spaniard. After a few hours, however, Alonso's penalty was cancelled, and so the two-time world champion returned to third place in the standings.
The accusation made by the whistleblower is that Ben Sulayem called Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamas bin Isa Al Khalifa – FIA vice-president for sport for the Middle East and North Africa region – and made it clear to him that he believed the penalty of Alonso should be revoked. The report highlights how Ben Sulayem – according to the informant – “demanded that the stewards reverse their decision to award the penalty to Alonso“. The ethics committee will also report, in a maximum time quantifiable in a month and a half.
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