FIA chaos is like reality TV – we need to protect our sport

Toto Wolff has likened the turbulence at the FIA to a reality show and warned that it risks damaging the sport.

Earlier on Sunday, controversial FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem had said issues raised by the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association (GPDA) last month are “none of their business”.

In an open letter, the GPDA, which has Mercedes driver George Russell as a director, asked for transparency on the use of FIA funds and told the president to “treat them like adults” in regard to issues like swearing and wearing jewellery.

Russell and other drivers have also criticised the lack of communication around high-profile staff departures.

“If you look at it in a positive way, it could have its own reality show of what’s happening at the moment,” Wolff, the Mercedes team principal, said. “I think all of our stakeholders need to bear in mind that we need to protect this holy grail of a sport, and do it with responsibility and accountability, transparency — and it doesn’t come across like that. Everybody just needs to look in the mirror and say, ‘Am I contributing the best to this sport or not?’ ”

Asked about the GPDA’s requests, Ben Sulayem told Autosport: “None of their business. Sorry. With all respect, I am a driver. I respect the drivers. Let them go and concentrate on what they do best, which is race.

“This is our business,” he added, when asked about recent events. “We’ll do whatever is good for the FIA. So it’s really none of people’s business to interfere in ours. It’s the results that we produce.

“When something in the teams changes, do they tell us? No, they don’t. Nobody has to. We have the rules, we follow our rules. We don’t follow someone else’s rule.”

The Times understands that Ben Sulayem does not intend to meet the drivers and discuss the issues raised in the GPDA letter. He is happy to speak to the drivers if they have an issue — as displayed by his meeting with Max Verstappen on Sunday morning at the Qatar Grand Prix.

This was initiated by the driver and his representatives to discuss a number of issues including swearing, with Verstappen given a community service-style punishment for using an expletive in a press conference. The meeting is understood to have been productive and the president is happy to have an open line of communication with drivers.

The Times reported this week that the FIA had removed from office two members of the committee that scrutinises its finances after they expressed concerns about a $1.5million (£1.18million) fund set up at the suggestion of Ben Sulayem.

The FIA says there was more than €10.3million (£8.56million) spent last year on grassroots development, with funding for 70 motorsport safety projects in progress at a cost of €2.7million.

The FIA and Ben Sulayem view internal staff changes and spending as something that is not of importance to the drivers.

Meanwhile, Wolff also criticised online trolls who have suggested there is a Mercedes conspiracy against Lewis Hamilton, who finished 12th in Doha and at one point asked to retire the car, such were his struggles. Hamilton will join Ferrari at the end of the season, ending a 12-year association with Mercedes.

“We love our fans, they contribute to what we are and the other ones who believe that they need to create some crazy, made-up conspiracies, it doesn’t even bother me,” Wolff said. “They are just idiots who have no understanding. You are hiding behind your screen, somewhere over the mountains and you want to write a comment? Wonderful. You are writing it for yourself and the few other lunatics that want to engage with you.”

Hamilton will see out his contract with Mercedes and will not appear at the post-season tyre test in Abu Dhabi for Ferrari. Esteban Ocon, who crashed out of Sunday’s race, is expected to be replaced in the Alpine by Jack Doohan, his replacement next season, for the final grand prix in a deal that will mean he can join his new team, Haas, in the tyre test.