The FIA has been rocked by another executive resignation with a very senior figure joining the chorus of dissatisfaction directed at how Formula One’s governing body is run and the organisation’s president, Mohammed Ben Sulayem.
On Thursday, the FIA’s deputy president for sport, Robert Reid, announced his resignation citing what he called “a fundamental breakdown in governance standards” and “critical decisions being made without due process”.
It resulted in the Mercedes driver George Russell questioning why the governing body was so unstable. “Unfortunately, every time we hear some news from that side of the sport it is not really a big surprise,” he said. “It is getting to a point now where these things are happening so often. Things seem to be continuously going in an unstable direction. I’ve got to be honest, we are getting to a point now where our actions are having little impact with those guys.”
Reid’s resignation follows only a day after the chair of Motorsport UK, David Richards, published an open letter expressing a growing number of people had legitimate concerns that: “The governance and constitutional organisation of the FIA is becoming ever more opaque and concentrating power in the hands of the president alone”. He added damningly: “We cannot allow a shift of the moral compass of our leadership to simply dismiss any request for transparency and open discourse.”
Shortly after Reid’s resignation, the former FIA chief executive Natalie Robyn, who was reportedly forced to step down in May 2024 after disagreements with Ben Sulayem, referred to Reid’s decision as indicating that the FIA had “serious ongoing structural challenges”.
“When professional processes are not adhered to and stakeholders are excluded from decision-making, it undermines the foundation of a strong organisation,” she told the BBC. “I am saddened to see these developments, as they threaten both the credibility and the long-term effectiveness of an important institution.”
The pointed and sustained criticism puts Ben Sulayem under pressure as his first term as president is set to conclude in December, when he will face re-election. As things stand he remains unopposed.
His time in charge at the FIA has been marked by discord and controversy. Drivers have been repeatedly angered by the FIA’s adherence to the letter of the rules, including clampdowns on wearing jewellery and swearing, both understood to have come directly from the president and to changes regarding their public behaviour including speaking out on issues not relating to the sport.
His attitude towards women has been called into question due to sexist comments made on his former website, which the FIA said were historic and did not “reflect his current beliefs”. Under his watch the FIA is now being sued by Susie Wolff, the director of the all-female series the F1 Academy, after the body launched a conflict of interest enquiry into Wolff and her husband Toto, the team principal of Mercedes, which was then dropped after only two days.
He has angered F1’s owner by making remarks about the value of the sport and been accused of interfering in grands prix by a whistleblower, claims which were subsequently dismissed after an investigation by the FIA’s own ethics committee. The officer in charge of the investigation, Paolo Basarri, was subsequently sacked.
Reid is the latest in a long line of senior personnel to have left since Ben Sulayem took over. When Robyn left it followed the resignations of single-seater technical director, Tim Goss, the sporting director Steve Nielsen and Deborah Mayer, the president of the FIA’s Women in Motorsport Commission.
Bertand Badré, the head of the audit committee and Tom Purves, a member of the audit committee, were also fired in 2024.
Reid and Richards’ criticism follows the hugely controversial decision last year when the FIA general assembly agreed to amend statutes that limited the extent to which its leadership could be held accountable, including giving Ben Sulayem the authority to decide whether ethics complaints require action.
Richards’ latest letter was prompted by dissatisfaction with the FIA’s response to his previous concerns that he had been barred from a meeting of the FIA world council for refusing to sign an amended confidentiality agreement.
Similarly, Reid stated that: “Motorsport deserves leadership that is accountable, transparent and member-driven. I can no longer, in good faith, remain part of a system that does not reflect those values.”
The FIA issued a response to Reid’s resignation. “The FIA is grateful for Robert Reid’s contribution to the FIA and to motor sport more widely,” it read. “The FIA has exceptionally robust corporate governance policies which guide our operations and ensure our rules, practices and processes are adhered to.”
