FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem allegedly told officials not to certify F1 Las Vegas GP: Reports

Mohammed Ben Sulayem allegedly sought for the F1 Las Vegas GP to not be approved for racing under safety concerns last year.

This comes after the FIA president was reported to have interfered with the race result of the Saudi Arabian GP in the 2023 season, overturning Fernando Alonso's penalty. The same whistle-blower who revealed this also mentioned that Mohammed Ben Sulayem told officials to not certify the Las Vegas GP track for safety concerns.

As per BBC, the officials overlooking the inaugural Las Vegas GP in 2023 were told 'on the behest of the FIA president' to not pass the circuit because of the safety regulations and were asked to find a way around it.

According to the compliance report, the whistle-blower mentioned that the ultimate goal was to withhold the license for the circuit, as BBC quoted:

"Asked to be more specific, [the whistleblower] said that issues on the circuit were meant to be artificially identified regardless of their actual existence, with the ultimate goal of withholding the licence."

Regardless, the circuit was passed and the race took place. Max Verstappen was victorious with Ferrari's Charles Leclerc finishing in second place, followed by Sergio Perez to finish the podium.

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Investigation against Mohammed Ben Sulayem for interfering with 2023 Saudi Arabian GP race result

The whistle-blower who reported Ben Sulayem's interference with the passing of the Las Vegas GP also mentioned that he had interfered with the race result of the Saudi Arabian GP, as mentioned previously.

An investigation has been launched against the FIA President for the same.

During the race in 2023, Fernando Alonso was to serve a five-second time penalty while pitting, meaning no engineers could work on the car for the first five seconds of his stop. However, the stewards deemed that the car had been worked on before the time period was over, and for this, he was given another 10-second time penalty.

This made him drop down to P4 behind Mercedes' George Russell. After the race, however, the stewards confirmed that the #14 Aston Martin had not been worked and had served the time penalty correctly, hence, the penalty was reverted and Alonso's P3 finish was restored.

According to the report, Mohammed Ben Sulayem suggested over a phone call that Alonso's 10-second time penalty should be revoked, which ultimately happened.

The investigation's verdict is expected within four to six weeks.