The anticipated culture change at the top of motorsport that is yet to arrive

Should one premiership end in controversy and acrimony, the next occupier of the office is well-advised to distance themselves from the turmoil that went before. They will want to impose a different philosophy and install new faces to prove they are the right way forward.

This is precisely what the remaining candidates seeking to become the next Tory leader are currently attempting to do to relegate Boris Johnson to the pages of history. It is also what the FIA appeared to be enacting as 2021 rolled into the new year.

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Three days after the tumultuous Abu Dhabi title decider, the governing body issue a widely panned statement. It read: “[The events] notably generated significant misunderstanding and reactions from Formula 1 teams, drivers and fans.” Many perceived those words to mean: ‘we didn’t do anything wrong; it's your fault for being angry’. It came across as an act of back-covering that failed to meaningfully engage in the criticism.

This official communication was one of the very final acts to come under the leadership of Jean Todt. Two days later, on 17 December, Mohammed ben Sulayem succeeded him as president of the FIA. This was the time to start afresh and rebuild relationships.

The initial signs were very promising where F1 was concerned. A full investigation into Abu Dhabi was announced and (while not necessarily right to celebrate the fact) race director Michael Masi’s position was seen as untenable. He was moved within the FIA - and on Tuesday announced as having departed the organisation altogether. Ben Sulayem’s leadership was making a mark.

But we’re now seven months into 2022, seven months into his first term, 11 races into the F1 season. It’s not the largest sample size and this isn’t the new resident of the White House trying to get a landmark piece of legislation to the floor in the first 100 days. Nevertheless, it is difficult to say that the FIA is markedly different.

Take Sebastian Vettel copping a suspended €25,000 fine at the Austrian Grand Prix last weekend for storming out of the Saturday evening drivers’ briefing. His frustrations are understood to have been based around track limits and pit entry requirements. Not pedalling his own agenda but rather working for the betterment of the series by addressing topics that have repeatedly caused chagrin in 2022.

Lance Stroll, Aston Martin, Sebastian Vettel, Aston Martin, on the grid for the national anthem prior to the start

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

The rules have not changed here from Todt to ben Sulayem. Vettel walked out - a la Ayrton Senna at Suzuka in 1990 - meaning he was bang to rights and the systematic punishment applied.

However, it still raises questions. Mick Schumacher said the meeting was “going round in circles”. So, what did it take for Vettel to reach the end of his tether? Speaking on the wider topic of consistency from the race directors, Max Verstappen said: “[Their job is] more about working with the drivers instead of just keeping your stance and just being stubborn. We want to make it better for everyone and it's not like we're fighting for ourselves.” Did Vettel feel there was a blanket lack of concession, perhaps due to ‘stubbornness’? Accounts make out his reaction came from the FIA being unreceptive to dissent.

And it wasn’t just the fine. Accompanying the report into the incident was the following statement: “Drivers at this level are role models for every driver around the world and in the opinion of the stewards, Vettel failed to live up to that standard in this case.” In the eyes of the governing body, in that setting, he had not acted as an example to young drivers by showing the right way to behave.

This adds to the concern. While the justification from the FIA relates the Vettel incident to “this case” specifically, that doesn’t offer a total get-out-of-jail-free card for calling his status as a role model into doubt. Take a step back and it is entirely at odds with his efforts to raise awareness of the climate crisis, engage in debate by appearing on Question Time, visiting young offenders, or condemning abhorrent trackside behaviour.

Calling out Vettel as a role model arrived in the fortnight that videos surfaced of three-time champion Nelson Piquet Sr and Red Bull junior Juri Vips using racist slurs. It is obvious who the role model is from that trio. While the events are unrelated per se, it doesn’t mean they exist in an entirely different context from one another.

While there doesn’t have to be a BT Sport-style cut to Peter Walton in the studio every time a driver cops a penalty, currently very little has been said on the VAR equivalent to explain how it is making a marked difference

Then there’s the changes made to the race management team. The logic behind moving to two race directors is sound enough. As the calendar grows and the pressures mount, it is entirely sensible to split up workloads. That will naturally allow some inconsistency in the application of the rules to arise. Human error is understandable.

The FIA was forward thinking here. To assist the race directors and help provide a degree of uniformity, the report into Abu Dhabi recommended that a Virtual Race Control Room (think Video Assistant Referee in football) be established. It would act “as a backup outside the circuit… it will help to apply the sporting regulations using the most modern technological tools.”

Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing RB18

Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images

We’ve heard very little on it since. There was a Tweet from the FIA last Saturday. It explained the Geneva-based Remote Operations Centre has “supported trackside operations since the start of the season... The FIA will continue to develop its capabilities”. Unlike football, a race cannot be paused while an incident is settled. This system is therefore more about providing additional data to the stewards rather than definitively resolving disputes in the moment.

It’s still in its infancy, and VAR continues to experience its great limitations, so few are expecting perfection right away. But there were at least two examples of the stewards being dragged over the coals at the Red Bull Ring for issues that extra data should have relieved.

One, Sergio Perez exceeded track limits in Q2 to progress into the shootout for pole at the expense of Pierre Gasly. Then all his Q3 times were deleted when the indiscretion was finally investigated. Two, the debatable penalty George Russell was handed for his Sunday contact with Perez, the Mercedes driver arguing that he was already fully over the inside kerb with little capacity to have given any more room.

While there doesn’t have to be a BT Sport-style cut to Peter Walton in the studio every time a driver cops a penalty, currently very little has been said on the VAR equivalent to explain how it is making a marked difference. Perhaps that ambiguity has played a part in the drivers’, teams’, and fans’ frustration over inconsistency.

This is an area that can be improved. Albeit as race directors rather than stewards, Michael Masi and his late predecessor-cum-mentor Charlie Whiting didn’t get every single decision right. But after a race they offered themselves to the media for questioning. Their explanations offered a degree of public-facing accountability and transparency. Niels Wittich and Eduardo Freitas, though, are still yet to formally meet the press.

While this offers them a reasonable degree of protection from the vitriol subjected to Masi and removes an element that might be considered a distraction, it limits accessibility and understanding. It allows there to be an avoidable perception that they are uninterested in hearing and engaging with the opinions of others.

This was meant to be a new chapter for F1 and its governance. But, like that Todt-led fan statement in the wake of Abu Dhabi, there’s still a whiff of ‘my way or the highway’. There needs to be more meaningful evidence of introspection and collaboration. Until then, it cannot be said that the desired culture change has come. So far, for this new era of the FIA, it would seem to be a case of ‘meet the new boss, same as the old boss’.

Mohammed bin Sulayem, President, FIA

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images