PARIS.- The Ethics Committee of the International Automobile Federation (FIA) exonerated the president of the organization, Mohammed Ben Sulayem, of any interference in the organization of the Grand Prix of Las Vegas last year, the FIA said in a statement this Wednesday.
“The independent committee determined that the allegations against the FIA president are unfounded,” the statement said, adding that the committee had been assisted by external advisers to carry out its investigations.
Various media outlets, including the BBC, had stated at the beginning of March that Mohammed Ben Sulayem had asked his teams to find a way not to homologate the Las Vegas circuit, which was hosting its first Formula 1 Grand Prix in 2023.
According to the BBC, which cited an internal FIA report, the Emirati official would have specifically requested that “solutions be found to prevent the FIA from certifying the circuit before the race weekend”, which took place in November 2023.
“After having examined the results of the investigations, the Ethics Committee unanimously concluded that there was no evidence to corroborate the accusations of interference, in any of its forms, regarding President Mohammed Ben Sulayem,” he explained.
The statement specifies that the investigation lasted 30 days and allowed 11 witnesses to be questioned.
Doubts around the FIA:
The reason why the president of the FIA would have wanted to prevent the race from taking place was not explained. A conflict of influence and image undermines relations between the FIA, the supreme body of motorsport, and the American group Liberty Media, which holds the commercial rights to F1 and organizes the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
The Ethics Committee also declared Ben Sulayem innocent in another case, regarding the result of last year’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
According to the BBC, the president of the FIA would have asked managers to annul a penalty against the Spanish driver Fernando Alonso. In its text, the FIA noted this Wednesday that its president was “apologized for all embezzlement.”
Source: AFP
