The FIA is called into question
The latest development of Horner case arrived yesterday afternoon, with the formalization of the Red Bull employee's complaint to the FIA Ethics Committee. The woman's new lawyers are therefore acting on two tables: on the one hand they have made use of theappeal to the internal investigation Red Bull who had acquitted the team principal, on the other hand they have formally submitted a complaint to the Federation. Also raising the possibility of relying on ordinary justice on the horizon.
The contradiction
There BBC he then reported that the FIA Ethics Committee had already received one report on the matter already last year February 2, which referenced fears that Red Bull might try to cover up the story. Subsequently the A second report arrived on March 6thin which the informant warned that he wanted to inform the media of what happened.
This reconstruction, rather detailed, certainly clashes with the statements released on March 1st to the Financial Times by the president of the Federation, Mohammed Ben Sulayem. Among the columns of the interview we read that the FIA number one “had added that the governing body had no intention of conducting its own investigation because had not received any formal complaint“then reporting a direct quote from Ben Sulayem: “We must not act ahead of timebut we are required to investigate any complaints received by our compliance officer.”
Which side is the FIA on?
So at the time of the interview Mohammed Ben Sulayem he stated something that was not true, given that the first communication to the Ethics Committee had arrived a full month earlier: on 2 February. So what did the president mean by “we must protect sport from all this”? Hoping that the matter would dissolve like a soap bubble with the internal investigation into Red Bull?
It will therefore not be a coincidence that 2 days after the interview, i.e. on March 3, the indiscretion emerged – sources De Telegraaf And BBC – That Ben Sulayem had asked Verstappen after qualifying in Sakhir to publicly defend Horner (receiving a refusal). Just as it cannot be a coincidence that it was released to the media on March 4th the existence of a dossier deposited with the FIA Ethics Committee at the expense of the president.
Action corresponds to reaction.
From what emerges, it seems that the Federation and Ben Sulayem made a 'melina', hoping that the Red Bull chaos would resolve itself. Thus giving the impression of taking Horner's side and infuriating the English manager's many opponents.
Now we can no longer procrastinate: the Horner case has also become an FIA case. And the very first signs – see the statement released last night – do not lead to the much-invoked transparency.
Final observation. In July 2022 Bernie Ecclestone to the Daily Mail he talked like this about Ben Sulayem: “He needs advice from people who have no ulterior motives. He calls me for a lot of things and let's chat. He is direct and honest. The big problem is that he is a bit naive”. Bernie Ecclestone who, it is always worth remembering, is also among Christian Horner's closest advisors and he has his wife Fabiana Flosi, FIA vice president for sport.
On March 9, Ralf Bach – up F1 Insider – told how Ecclestone himself has had a hand in several stories in recent years (the scoops of F1 Business Magazine on Wolff and the details on Horner, the Massa case) with a single purpose, that of “cause chaos“. The reason? Candidate his wife Fabiana Flosi as president of the FIA in the next elections.
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