Richards Expresses Concern Over Proposed FIA Governance Changes

David Richards, who chairs MotorsportUK, has called on Formula 1’s governing body, the FIA, to reconsider proposed amendments that would curtail mechanisms for holding its leadership accountable. He stated that the FIA must “reflect the highest standard.” This week, BBC Sport disclosed that the FIA intends to introduce a series of statutory revisions designed to limit the authority of its audit and ethics committees. Richards, whose position at MotorsportUK grants him voting rights within the FIA, informed BBC Sport of his apprehension, stating he was “concerned that major organisations around the world would refuse to work with the FIA if it did not reflect the highest standards of corporate governance, as befits our sport”. Speaking to The Race website, Richards further commented: “Hopefully people will realise that this is not the right direction to take, and that we need to make sure that the FIA upholds the very best of sporting governance in the world.” He continued: “I’m hopeful that that will be the case. I’m hopeful that it’s just an oversight, and people have not fully understood the consequences of this, and we can correct it before it changes.” These proposed changes would stipulate that the FIA president and the president of its senate, instead of the senate itself, would oversee any ethics complaints. Furthermore, they would eliminate the audit committee’s independent authority to investigate financial matters. FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem is proposing these amendments following a year during which the audit and ethics committees conducted investigations into several allegations concerning him. These allegations encompassed inquiries into the financial affairs of Ben Sulayem’s private office and the creation of a $1.5m “president’s fund” intended for payments to member clubs, which participate in the election of the FIA president. Neither of these investigations advanced. Additionally, two distinct allegations of Ben Sulayem’s interference in 2023 grand prix operations were investigated and subsequently dismissed. Richards stated: “The audit committee, in my view, should be completely independent and be able to investigate any issue it wishes within the FIA.” He added: “The statute change that’s being proposed will stop that, and that’s not good governance.” Richards reiterated: “Hopefully people will realise that this is not the right direction to take, and that we need to make sure that the FIA upholds the very best of sporting governance in the world.” The FIA chose not to provide a comment. The FIA General Assembly, comprising member clubs, is scheduled to vote on these proposals on 13 December. Among additional proposed changes, they would: Substitute the ethics committee’s current authority to “investigate and assess” complaints with a limited power solely to “carry out an initial assessment to determine whether an in-depth investigation is necessary”. This assessment report would then be forwarded to the president of the senate, “who may decide to take further action”. This effectively transfers the authority to investigate ethics issues from the ethics committee to the president of the senate. The amendments also introduce clauses specifying that if the FIA president is under investigation by the ethics committee, the resulting report is to be submitted to the president of the senate; conversely, if the president of the senate is investigated, the report would go to the FIA president. In essence, this arrangement would position the FIA president and the president of the senate to determine each other’s outcomes in any ethics inquiry. Carmelo Sanz De Barros, the current president of the senate, is part of Ben Sulayem’s four-member leadership team.