F1 teams increasingly dissatisfied with FIA president after delays at Italian GP

Senior figures in motor racing have expressed a widespread sense of fatigue and dissatisfaction among Formula One teams with the sport’s governing body, the FIA.

What is seen as an increasingly fraught relationship between the teams and the FIA was exacerbated further at last weekend’s Italian Grand Prix, while the organisation’s president Mohammed bin Sulayem has been criticised for a failure of leadership.

F1 is enjoying a huge surge in popularity at present but many within the sport are concerned that the FIA, which enforces its regulations, is proving to be more of hindrance than help to this growth.

At Monza last weekend, with a swathe of grid penalties applied across the field, the governing body was only able to provide a grid for Sunday’s race three and a half hours after qualifying had concluded, a period inexplicable to fans. Indicative of a difficult relationship with F1 – the commercial rights holder – the FIA claimed the hold-up was due to F1 not releasing timing data, which was vigorously refuted by F1.

The race itself ended behind the safety car, which generated disapproval from team principals including Christian Horner and Mattia Binotto of Red Bull and Ferrari, while Haas’s Guenther Steiner bluntly stated: “It wasn’t handled how it should’ve been.” However, the Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff pointedly noted that the FIA had followed their regulations correctly.

Ben Sulaymen took over as president in December last year and his leadership has come under criticism ever since. There was exasperation when the Monaco GP was not started in the rain and disappointment when the FIA failed to ban Russian drivers from competing after the invasion of Ukraine. The report into the controversial end to the Abu