One easy way the FIA could instantly improve F1

Never-ending January. It’s always the same story. But it always passes.

At Formula 1 teams, the annual cycle is at one of its most intense phases – design and production departments working hurriedly to keep the assembly of eagerly-anticipated new machines on schedule. Away from the keen eyes of the media at official F1 events, this time of year is swan-like – serene on the surface, very busy beneath. A reassuring familiarity from the time of year.

But there’s something a bit different happening in 2023 versus 2022. In what is traditionally a quiet news period, FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem has been making many headlines. This stands in stark contrast to the rather quiet start of his term last year, when he made a low-profile beginning during what was, thanks to the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix saga, a low ebb for the governing body. Now Ben Sulayem is making waves and moves.

His comment that “it is surprising that there has been some adverse reaction to the Cadillac and Andretti news” at the start of this long, cold month in the UK raised eyebrows.

From one perspective, F1 fans are generally in favour of an increased grid size, which would offer additional opportunities to new drivers or those on the outside looking for a way back in. But the FIA’s position is at odds with most of the teams being wary of their prize pot being diluted and the suggestion of longer-term pain for short-term gain.

The F1 organisation (FOM), with its FIA relations understood to be already tense for various reasons including the fallout of the Abu Dhabi shambles and negotiations over expanding the sprint race programme in 2022, is also lukewarm to the Andretti proposal. That’s in quite big contrast to its welcoming of Audi's 2026 venture.

This week, Ben Sulayem has pointedly cautioned against what he called "exaggerated" suggestions F1 was being valued at $20 billion. This stemmed from a Bloomberg report regarding interest in the Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund possibly purchasing F1’s commercial rights – although to what realistic level such talk ever got is disputed.

FIA President Ben Sulayem hasn't shied away from the limelight during the winter months

Photo by: A.S.O.

Ben Sulayem’s warning was aimed at the possible impact of a sale for such a price potentially then being passed on to fans – that a new F1 Commercial Rights Holder might raise race promoter fees and in turn this might increase ticket prices.

As a publicly listed company, such a statement on even a hypothetical financial value from the FIA president will have an impact on F1 and FOM is rather displeased judging by the strength of its words in letter issued to Ben Sulayem and circulated to F1 teams. After all, who could blame Liberty Media for selling up at such a massive price given it bought F1’s commercial rights for $4.4 billion in 2017?

But the FIA is nevertheless a critical factor in any talk of CRH change given it is F1’s de facto owner and leases the operating and commercial rights as part of the 113-year deal struck between former FIA president Max Mosley and former F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone. A footnote to Ben Sulayem’s comments on F1’s possible value is that he also said the FIA had “a raw deal” in that arrangement being struck for “$300 million for 100 years” in the late 1990s.

All this is very serious talk about very serious things – January’s solemnity to December’s heady excitement, when talk was of the full-season reaction to F1’s new ground-effects era and how even at this early stage in might be improved, say with additional active aerodynamics on the cars.

F1 both gained and lost when its broadcasting of the radio calls between team principals and managers and Masi was dropped

One of F1’s major selling points is that it is big business, big stakes. Its interest levels are heightened because of competition between legendary marques such as Ferrari, Mercedes, McLaren and Aston Martin, plus huge brands such as Red Bull. One only has to look at the massive (and deserved) spike in interest in the 2023 World Endurance Championship, after manufacturers including Ferrari signed up to return to Le Mans, to see how the impact of favour from such businesses can impact fan popularity and in turn series’ health.

But the small details matter to motorsport fans too. Autosport knows this extremely well – we exist because our readers share our like-minded interest in all of motorsport’s facets. And so, it is interesting to note how as well as focusing on F1’s big picture stuff, the FIA’s more day-to-day concerns with the championship have been in the spotlight this January too.

Ben Sulayem, who was speaking to reporters including Autosport’s Tom Howard at last weekend’s Monte Carlo Rally, confirmed that the FIA is tightening up the rules around shortened races following the baffling end to the rain-hit 2022 Japanese GP and Max Verstappen’s second title coronation.

Just as he did at the FIA prize-giving gala last month, Ben Sulayem hit out at F1 teams “who approved” the previous definition of the rule that awarded full points to a shortened race – so long as it was restarted and concluded with a chequered flag. The subsequent tweak only came into place from 2022 as a response to the Spa washout farce of 2021.

Further tweaks will be made to the F1 sporting regulations after the faults raised from Spa 2021 were only papered over

Photo by: Erik Junius

The FIA president explained that responsibility for fixing this specific rule has been handed to the governing body’s new sporting director Steve Nielsen as part of a major overhaul of its F1 race management structure – understood to come with FOM’s blessing given the well-respected former team manager was previous employed there.

Such a development is a welcome step. But it's surely worth noting that as custodian of the rules, the FIA will always be the first, deserved point to place criticism for any problems with them. As with any big sporting governing body – and one charged with significant safety and legal oversights in what remains a dangerous pursuit – communicating the necessary complexities is a challenge. But those complexities are another key reason why fans enjoy motorsport.

Again, Autosport knows this well and we share this passion. So, here’s a friendly suggestion for how at a stroke the FIA could improve F1. And it centres on fan communication.

While the governing body has an ‘open door’ media policy on stories regarding sporting and technical rules, it rather went against Ben Sulayem’s statements from his FIA election campaign that transparency is “vital to good governance and accountability” that it removed the post-event F1 race director media calls (previously conducted by the late Charlie Whiting and then Michael Masi) in the aftermath of Abu Dhabi 2021. It did so in an effort to protect new race directors Niels Wittich and Eduardo Freitas, but it came with an accountability cost.

Autosport knows previous calls for the reinstatement of these media calls have fallen on deaf ears, which doesn’t stop it being right to keep making them. But if they are never coming back, how about something else that would additionally improve F1’s show? Given it's still January, let’s look outside F1 for a moment.

In the UK, the Six Nations rugby tournament is about to begin and in that sport referees have long relied on a television match official to try and ensure contentious decisions are judged correctly. In a sense, F1 got close to showcasing something similar with its broadcasting of the radio calls between team principals, managers, and Masi during that spectacular 2021 season.

It all got a bit much in Abu Dhabi that year, despite being fascinating listening to fans and observers. Therefore, F1 both gained and lost when it was dropped as part of the review into those events Ben Sulayem’s administration was conducting this time last year.

A possible replacement idea would be to broadcast the stewards’ room decisions on F1’s platforms live during races. But one can see plenty of objection regarding the sanctity of the judging process when such incredible sums are on the line given the championship’s current interest boom.

Whiting and his successor Masi both gave briefings to media, but these have not been brought back since Abu Dhabi 2021

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

In the NFL, a sport reaching its season conclusion right now and where very fast actions are governed by a massively complicated set of laws, TV broadcasts regularly feature ex-officials that explain why a call has been made one way or another by the referees.

This writer has argued for F1 to adopt this before but, on reflection given F1 actually is a world championship and so with myriad broadcasters compared to a handful of central networks in America, it would be tricky to implement. And the best person surely for such a role would be Masi and that just isn’t going to happen…

But what about expanding the FIA’s much vaunted remote operations centre – something Nielsen has been charged with enacting – to include regular explanations of race control and stewards’ decisions during races as part of TV broadcasts?

An additional benefit of remote race control TV explanations would be to set out the procedures already swinging into action during the fallout from the inevitable next unexpected situation in such a constantly changing sporting sphere

Yes, the latter operate independently of the FIA, but they interpret the rules based on the governing body’s legislation wording. And sometimes race control decisions – such as waiting for the 2022 Singapore GP to conclude before speaking to Sergio Perez about his driving behind the safety car, but not doing likewise when it came to Charles Leclerc cutting the Suzuka chicane at the next event – baffle viewers even when they are done according to the established procedures. Such a movement could even be covered with slick graphics rather than another talking head.

It's right to praise the FIA for things it got very right in tricky circumstances – after all, it's possible to discern that some of Ben Sulayem’s frustrations lie with the governing body picking up the blame for every F1 rules or systems debate, which seem to be happening rather regularly these days.

Its explanation of the unfortunate tractor-on-track scenes at Suzuka last year was brilliantly detailed, but these things take time to generate. An additional benefit of remote race control TV explanations would be to set out the procedures already swinging into action during the fallout from the inevitable next unexpected situation in such a constantly changing sporting sphere. People just appreciate being directly told what is happening.

Quick, succinct explanations from the governing body during sporting events surely tick all the boxes on transparency, fan engagement and competitor relations that would be so handy during (relatively) ‘small picture’ flashpoints such as Spa and Abu Dhabi 2021. These can, after all, add up to big, and possibly costly, issues overall. How January’s musings could just boost the brighter days to come…

Real-time TV explanations of events such as the red flag at Suzuka would greatly improve the fan experience

Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images