Staff Reporter.
The ethics committee for Formula 1’s governing body has cleared Mohammed Ben Sulayem in a pair of whistleblower complaints that the FIA president twice interfered in competition last year.
Sulayem was alleged to have intervened to overturn a penalty for Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
A whistleblower claimed the president told officials not to certify the Las Vegas circuit for last year’s race.
The FIA said there was no evidence to support the claims.
“Concerns over potential interference were brought to the attention of the FIA Compliance Officer and subsequently passed to the FIA Ethics Committee,” said the FIA in a statement.
“After reviewing the results of the inquiries, the Ethics Committee were unanimous in their determination that there was no evidence to substantiate allegations of interference of any kind involving the FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem.”
A “robust and wide-ranging independent review” spanning 30 days, and interviewing 11 witnesses was conducted, the FIA added. which cleared Ben Sulayem “of any wrongdoing”.
“The president showed complete co-operation, transparency, and compliance throughout the process during this investigation was greatly appreciated,” it said.
The ethics committee has also received a complaint from a Red Bull employee who has accused team principal Christian Horner of misconduct. Horner was cleared of wrongdoing by Red Bull’s parent company and the employee has been suspended.
The employee has appealed Red Bull’s ruling in favor of Horner and last week filed a formal complaint with the FIA’s governing body. The drama surrounding Red Bull and Horner follows F1 into this weekend’s Australian Grand Prix, the third race of the season.
Compiled by Lehlohonolo Lehana.