FIA president allegedly told officials not to certify Las Vegas GP

Mohammed Ben Sulayem, the president of Formula 1’s governing body, is alleged to have instructed officials not to certify the Las Vegas circuit for its race last year, according to a whistleblower. This whistleblower, who previously accused Ben Sulayem of influencing officials to overturn a penalty for Fernando Alonso in Saudi Arabia, claims they were directed “on behest of the FIA president” to find reasons to prevent the circuit from being deemed safe for racing.

The allegation is part of a report submitted by the FIA’s compliance officer to its ethics committee, and BBC Sport has obtained access to this report. A spokesperson for the FIA has stated that, in terms of inspection and certification, the approval of the Las Vegas circuit followed FIA protocol from a sporting and safety perspective. They cited a delay in the track being made available for inspection due to ongoing local organizer construction works.

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According to the whistleblower, they were instructed by their manager, acting on behalf of the FIA president, to identify concerns and prevent the certification of the circuit before the race weekend. The compliance report quotes the whistleblower as stating that the purpose was to fabricate issues with the track to withhold the license, and issues were to be artificially identified regardless of their actual existence.

The whistleblower specified tasking an official with this responsibility and named two additional officials present in the room at the time.