“We have to look for race directors” : FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem on a serious search for new FIA race directors

“We have to look for race directors” : FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem on a serious search for new FIA race directors

FIA race directors Niels Wittich and Eduardo Freitas

Mohammed Ben Sulayem succeeded Jean Todt as President at the end of December last season, but he didn’t wind up in a comfortable situation. Quite the opposite in fact. The FIA has a significant amount of work to do. According to Ben Sulayem, one of the arrow heads is the conditioning of new race directors.

Former FIA race director Michael Masi was forced to resign following the scandal in Abu Dhabi in 2021. Niels Wittich and Eduardo Freitas now alternate, but neither has any Formula One experience. In fact, no one was prepared, and the FIA wants to prevent a situation like this in the long term. This means that significant funding is required right now.

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“It is the pinnacle of the sport and the pinnacle of technology, and then we have to look for race director. I was asking them 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,” said Ben Sulayem.

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Implementation of VAR in Formula One: Mohammed Ben Sulayem

Mohammed Ben Sulayem
Mohammed Ben Sulayem

An appropriate race director is tough to locate, which is why the international motorsport federation needs to train them early on so that they can be progressively introduced in the motorsport.

“We need to train them to replace. If we don’t do it now, we will have the same problem the following year. So, we are training people,” concluded the FIA President. In doing so, the FIA claims to have already begun with “virtual FIA race control” based in Geneva.

VAR was introduced as an additament in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix inquiry, but in practice, it does not appear to support Formula 1 significantly. It tends to help the custodians during a race weekend, according to Ben Sulayem, and guarantees that the stewards become properly trained.

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