Emirati former rally driver and current president of the FIA, Mohammed ben Sulayem, wants the training for Formula One stewards to become more structured, pointing to the process that rally and co-rally drivers undergo for their sport. Mohammed Ben Sulayem has a rallying background, after having participated in this sport for almost two decades: during this time, he won 14 Middle East Rallying titles. As a result, Mohammed ben Sulayem has helped set up a virtual race control in Geneva which will directly train upcoming stewards from live events.
The plan comes after the controversial outcome of last year’s Formula 1 title, which was decided in the last round of the season, the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, when Red Bull’s Max Verstappen passed Lewis Hamilton on the last lap of the race, following a controversial FIA call to only alow certain cars pass a safety car in the final stages of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Since then, Formula 1 race director Michael Masi was been removed from his position but many justified his actions due to his inexperience. The Australian was thrust into a role he was not fully prepared for after the unexpected death of Charlie Whitening in 2019. His time in the role was characterised by questionable decisions on driver and steward safety. In 2022 the situation does not seem to have improved, as Ferrari pointed out to the decisions taken by the stewards in the Monaco, specifically the decision to delay the race start and not investigate why Red Bull did not have the tyres mounted on the cars with three minutes until the race, despite the fact that the rules state this is mandatory to happen with five minutes until the scheduled race start.
In a recent interview with GrandPrix247, Mohammed ben Sulayem explained:
“I would like to see it, even if something happens, that the sport can continue; what if I decide tomorrow to retire or if I don’t want to be the person in charge. The sport must continue without missing me. I was asking the Grand Prix Drivers Association to help me find the directors we need: do I go to Google or look into Amazon? This is no overnight decision!. You have to find them and you have to raise and train them. This is why I went back to the old school of rallying scheme: the rally drivers training is more structured and can rotate easily. The event and the sport have to go on. We need to train them to replace them. If we don’t do it now, we will have the same problem the following year,” the FIA president said.
The FIA operates the virtual race control centre in Geneva to help train stewards for future assignments in Formula 1. Mohammed ben Sulayem thinks the control centre should help the sport keep a higher level of stewarding for the next seasons:
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“What are the advantages?” the Emirati asked rhetorically. “First of all, backup for the stewards, secondly which is the main reason in my opinion: better training of the stewards.” – he concluded.
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