Sacked F1 race steward Mayer takes aim at FIA president

Sacked F1 race steward Tim Mayer has taken aim at FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem in a series of claims.

Mayer, who was this week axed by Ben Sulayem, says the president “directly involved himself in making his views known” within the organisation.

A stewards’ panel is assigned to each race and represents an independent body of officials to oversee the race, however, Mayer says Ben Sulayem aired his views “not with the stewards directly, but via his staff”.

Mayer also revealed that the controversial decision to punish drivers for swearing also came from the FIA president. Max Verstappen was hit with a community service punishment for swearing at the Singapore GP while Charles Leclerc was fined €10,000, half of which was suspended, for swearing at the race in Mexico.

Mayer told BBC Sport: “His [Ben Sulayem’s] view that the drivers need to be penalised for swearing – that is his view and what has happened since reflects that.”

Mayer added: “There are times when he has directly involved himself in making his views known. Not with the stewards directly, but via his staff.

“Part of the job of the stewards is to enforce the FIA’s policy on the rules.

“Technically, bad language is outlawed, so it’s not unfair. Whether it’s sensible we should be chasing drivers for rather mild swearing is another matter.

“Most drivers, English is their second, third or fourth language, and every go-kart kid in the world, it’s the first word[s] they are taught in English. There are other ways to handle that kind of thing unless your desire is to flex your muscles.”

Mayer’s accusation is extremely serious after Ben Sulayem was subjected to an internal investigation into the outcome of the 2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

A whistleblower had claimed that Ben Sulayem allegedly intervened to overturn a post-race penalty issued to Fernando Alonso, who had been handed a 10-second time penalty for having work done to his car while serving a five-second penalty that he had received earlier in the race.

Alonso, who was initially hit with a penalty for being out of position on the grid, had his car touched by a rear jack when he came in to serve his sanction.

In March this year, a whistleblower claimed that Ben Sulayem called Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa – the FIA’s vice-president for sport for the Middle East and North Africa region, who was at the race in an official capacity, and made his thoughts known that the penalty should be dropped.

Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin F1 Team, provisionally 3rd position, with the trophy

Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images

The 10-second punishment was indeed rescinded and Alonso was allowed to keep his third place.

After a review by its own panel, the FIA said there was no evidence to support the accusation and Ben Sulayem was cleared by the organisation’s Ethics Committee.

Sacked by text message

Mayer, who worked for the organisation for 15 years, said he learned of his sacking via text message from one of Ben Sulayem’s assistants on Tuesday.

He said: “For a federation that relies on volunteers, to fire by text somebody who has made a significant contribution does not speak well of the management of the federation.”

Speaking about the reason for his dismissal, Mayer believed it was because Ben Sulayem “took offence” following an appeal by the Circuit of the Americas (COTA) chiefs following a track invasion by fans.

Mayer oversaw the right of review for the organisers of the United States Grand Prix after they were fined €500,000, with €350,000 suspended, following spectators running on the track after the race in October.

Mayer was working in his other role as the sporting organiser and had been trying to get the official punishment reworded to remove any suggestion of negligence on COTA’s behalf.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20, George Russell, Mercedes F1 W15, Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38, Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-24, Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-24, the rest of the field at the start of the Sprint

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

He was immediately struck off the stewards’ panel for the Brazilian Grand Prix before being fired this week, citing how Ben Sulayem felt the appeal was “a personal attack”.

Mayer said: “The official reason that will be given is they felt there was a conflict of interest with the FIA as I had led the right of review in my role as organiser.

“But that is not why I was fired. Being an organiser is a role that I have fulfilled, benefiting the FIA, for over 12 years. This isn’t new.

“In spite of the matter being resolved quietly and amicably, he’s still upset and decided to fire me. After 15 years of volunteering my time as a steward, a decade teaching other stewards and hundreds of hours volunteering in other roles, I got a text from one of his assistants.”

He added: “There was no intention of trying to cause a problem with the FIA and I will continue as the sporting organiser of the three US Grands Prix. This was such a minor point that it is baffling that anyone would take such offence.”

FIA departures mounting up

His departure comes after Janette Tan was inexplicably removed from her role as the deputy Formula 2 race director.

Mayer and Tan’s departures add to a list of departures from F1’s governing body. Former F1 race director, Niels Wittich, and FIA compliance officer, Paolo Basarri, also left their roles recently, while in the last year the organisation has lost sporting director Tim Nielsen, technical director Tim Goss, managing director Natalie Robyn, head of commission for women Deborah Mayer, secretary general of mobility Jacob Bangsgaard and director of communications Luke Skipper.

Niels Wittich, Race Director, FIA

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

Mayer is alarmed by Tan’s departure as she had been set to take over from Rui Marques, who replaced Wittich as the FIA’s F1 race director.

It means Marques will now oversee both F1 and F2 at this week’s Qatar GP and next week’s race in Abu Dhabi, as well as the F1 Academy.

Mayer said: “She [Tan] is the epitome of the type of person we want working for the FIA, the best of the next generation of race directors. I don’t know the circumstances, but one would think they would work very hard to keep someone of her character.

“I know how hard both of those jobs are. I like Rui a lot, but it will put him under incredible pressure.

“There aren’t a lot of ‘platinum-level’ FIA race directors, which is the FIA’s highest level certification. I’m one of them. It’s a lot of work and, if you are doing the job right, you wake up every day with an ulcer thinking of all the various things you need to be thinking about.

“They’re not doing themselves any favours. They are literally running out of people to do those jobs.”

Autosport has contacted the FIA for comment.