FIA responds to Ben Sulayem 'race interference' allegations

The FIA have confirmed that a report has been lodged by the governing body's ethics committee surrounding allegations levelled against president Mohammed Ben Sulayem.

Ben Sulayem is currently being investigated for alleged 'race interference', as first reported by BBC Sport, after an FIA whistleblower came forward with information about the FIA president.

READ MORE: FIA president investigated in latest BLOW to F1 credibility

It has been alleged that Ben Sulayem interfered with the 2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, supposedly telling race officials to take away a 10-second time penalty that had been given to Fernando Alonso.

The Spaniard finished third, just over five seconds ahead of Mercedes' George Russell, who would have benefitted from the penalty being upheld on the Aston Martin driver.

Ben Sulayem under fire following allegations

In separate allegations, the 62-year-old has also been accused of telling race officials at the Las Vegas GP to find a way of deeming the circuit not safe for racing, again as reported by BBC Sport.

As it happened, the race weekend went ahead as stewards were not able to find anything wrong with the circuit, but the whistleblower's allegations bring into question the motives of Ben Sulayem.

Now, the FIA have released a statement confirming that they have received a report surrounding 'certain members' of their organisation.

The FIA statement read: "The FIA confirms that the Compliance Officer has received a report detailing potential allegations involving certain members of its governing bodies.

"The Compliance Department is assessing these concerns, as is common practice in these matters, to ensure that due process is meticulously followed."

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