FIA president accused of 'power grab' by leading motorsport figure

FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem has been accused of a 'power grab' in an open letter written by Motorsport UK chairman David Richards. 

In March, Richards was banned from a meeting of the World Motor Sport Council after refusing to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA), and wrote that he felt there had been a "distinct failure" from Ben Sulayem to maintain pledges made in his election manifesto after succeeding Jean Todt in 2021.

Richards, the former Benetton CEO and BAR team principal, also wrote that he felt "the scope of the audit and ethics committees has been severely limited" as he explained that unless he signed the fresh NDA, he would not be permitted to join the latest WMSC, with the FIA promising fines of up to €50,000 and other damages. That letter was dated March 5.

Richards has now shared a response from the General Manager of the FIA, Alberto Villareal, written on April 7. 

In it, Villareal wrote that such NDAs are "very much a standard part of business" and that F1's governing body "struggles to understand your reluctance to be bound by the same terms and conditions as your fellow members, given you acknowledge the damage numerous leaks from the World Motor Sport Council had made to the FIA's mission".

In the letter, which can be read in full by clicking this link, Villareal also wrote that "I trust that you could have no reasonable objection" to the NDA, and denied it was a "gagging order" as Richards claimed in his first letter.

In response to that letter from Villareal, Richards has now accused Ben Sulayem, who is set to stand for re-election later this year, of a 'power grab.'

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David Richards response to the FIA

"What is disappointing in this letter from Alberto is the disregard for the very real concerns that have been expressed, not just by myself, but a growing number of people, that the governance and constitutional organisation of the FIA is becoming ever more opaque and concentrating power in the hands of the President alone," Richards wrote, with that letter available in full by clicking this link. 

"I stand by my statement that this is in effect a ‘gagging order’ and yet these points are simply batted away by Alberto, the FIA General Manager", with Richards also claiming that under French law, the decision to remove him from the WMSC is "unlawful".

Richards himself cannot be a candidate for the FIA presidency, with an upper age limit of 70 placed on candidates, with the 1981 rally co-driver champion currently 72. 

He also claimed that "we cannot allow a shift of the moral compass of our leadership to simply dismiss any request for transparency and open discourse."

Ben Sulayem's presidency has been controversial at times, including a high turnover of senior FIA officials, and claims he tried to get Fernando Alonso's penalty at the 2023 Saudi Arabian GP overturned and ordered the Las Vegas GP circuit not to pass safety checks ahead of its inaugural race.

Ben Sulayem was cleared of both after the allegations were raised by a whistleblower. 

Richards added in his letter that he hoped to meet with Ben Sulayem at this weekend's Bahrain Grand Prix "to express my views face-to-face and agree an acceptable outcome".

On Thursday 10th April, the FIA was hit with a further blow after the resignation of deputy president for sport, Robert Reid in a strongly-worded critic of Ben Sulayem.