Sakhir, Bahrair – The Vice -President of Sport to the Organ Director of the Formula One, the FIA, resigned from a “governance crisis” after affirming that he had “attended regular erosion of the principles that we promised to maintain”.
Robert Reid, who won the 2001 world world championship as a co -owner of Richard Burns, published a statement announcing his departure in the last blow to the presidency of Mohammed Ben Sulayem on Thursday.
Reid, 59, became vice-president when Ben Sulayem won the FIA presidential election at the end of 2021. The title of the declaration referred to a “governance crisis” within the FIA.
“When I played this role, it was to serve FIA members, not to serve power,” said Reid. “Over time, I attended regular erosion of the principles that we have promised to defend.
“Decisions are taken behind closed doors, bypassing the very structures and the people that FIA exists to represent.
“My resignation does not concern personalities, these are principles.
The FIA has not yet published a declaration in response to the release of Reid, which comes following a series of controversies that involved Ben Sulayem since he took office as president of the FIA. The Emiratis face a re -election at the end of the year.
Last year, Ben Sulayem was the subject of an investigation by the own FIA ethics committee for a request for denunciation which he interfered with the result of the Saudi Grand Prix of 2023 and threatened to prevent the approval of the track of the Grand Prix of Las Vegas the same year. Ben Sulayem said that the complaint was “not founded” and was authorized by the Committee.
Ben Sulayem has been president of the FIA since November 2021 (handout / fia / dppi via Getty Images)
In December, the FIA announced that it had modified the way in which the ethics committee would investigate all complaints, responding directly to Ben Sulayem as president.
Ben Sulayem also faced criticism for his distribution on drivers on questions such as the juron and the port of jewelry, as well as historical comments on women.
Reid’s departure comes less than 24 hours after David Richards, Motorsport UK chief, published a statement in which he said that “FIA governance and constitutional organization are becoming more and more opaque and concentration in the hands of the president.”
According to the press release published by Reid, its decision had followed the FIA decision to promote the World Rallyecross Championship without receiving the approval of the FIA Senate of the World Automobile Sports Council, which “could include a legal risk under the European Union competition law”. Reid said it was “the final violation of confidence and regular procedure”.
Reid added that it would be “would not be the end of my service in motorsport” because he “would continue to defend the reform, transparency and governance that respects the members of the FIA and the integrity of our sport”. The Briton is expected to comment more in the coming days to demand “a greater responsibility for the management of the federation”.
The news had before the first appearance of Ben Sulayem during a Grand Prix of F1 this year in Bahrain this weekend, where the FIA should also be part of a major meeting on the direction of the future engine.
F1 announced last month that it had agreed to the new Concorde agreement, which links teams and sport, from 2026, but that governance agreements were still to be finalized with FIA. In previous years, these agreements were signed in parallel.
Athletics approached the FIA for comments.
(Rudy Carezzevoli – Formula 1 / Motorsport Formula Limited via Getty Images)
