[Rules] The FIA - what's occurring there?

[S griffin]

Balestre had a tough time with opposition from the teams, but too often made the wrong decision.

[Aysedasi]

Yeah, I'm firmly with the Balestre-bashers on that one!

[bjohnsonsmith]

He got a tough time, which became the FISA-FOCA war, in part due to a perceived bias by FOCA, on the part of FISA, in favour of the major manufacturers: Alfa-Romeo, Ferrari and Renault, who were competing against the privateer teams of Brabham, McLaren, Tyrrell and Williams etc., collectively known as Garagistas, coined by Enzo Ferrari. There was also the commercial rights issue.

[A20 YBP]

Yeah, but also the clash over these rights, alongside competition-related disputes, created a prolonged standoff that shaped the structure and commercial landscape of Formula 1, eventually leading to the Concorde Agreement, which established a more balanced relationship between the governing body, the teams, and the commercial stakeholders.

[Sodemo]

Balestre - “the best decision is my decision”.

[Akrapovic]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1...s/cr7njn0r05jo

Paolo Basarri, the FIA Compliance Officer, has also been sacked. It seems that he tried to circumnavigate MBS (presumably because he did something very stupid, again), so MBS got rid of him.

[Richard C]

Wow! I wonder if we are going to start seeing various FIA employees "fall" from high balconies!

Is all of this internal attrition some type of big brain move by MBS that will play well with his supporters (draining the swamp here!!) or... is he in some weird panic mode where he is just swinging at anyone and anything that doesn't agree with him and it all comes tumbling down?

Richard

[Tourer]

It really must feel like a toxic workplace to those still there.

MBS might be heading for a reputation nearly as poor as Sepp Blatter when it comes to running a sport.

[broadrun96]

Liberty Media must be looking over asking what the hell man, we paid a lot just to produce your circus. We assumed you weren't the circus in the office but apparently not

[Gerard C]

It sucks. Will next move be the office going to Bahreïn, Abu Dhabi or Saudi Arabia?

[Richard C]

Originally Posted by Gerard C

It sucks. Will next move be the office going to Bahreïn, Abu Dhabi or Saudi Arabia?

I think next move for him is focus on re-election to his second term.

https://www.fia.com/election-calendar

Schedule shows that the are in the window for candidate submission (5th-26th of this month). It's not 100% clear to me as to how this work. The calendar calls out that on December 17th will be "General Assembly: Election of presidential list and World Councils". I don't know if that is the actual election or just the formal declaration of the slate of candidates. For example the 2021 list is here (which is called the "Presidential list")...

https://www.fia.com/presidential-lists

My best guess they are creating the formal list of candidates in December and then the vote is sometime in early 2025?

Who, if anyone, is going to run against MBS?

Richard

[TrapezeArtist]

I remember back at the time of the last elections Motorsport UK gave their vote to Ben Sulayem and published a justification of why he was the best choice. I suspect he won't get their vote this time.

[Gerard C]

Or more likely they won't bother publish a justification… Its all about a king of an obscure banana republic ya no!

[Derwent]

The drivers say that they want to be treated like adults. There is an easy answer to that. Behave like adults rather than entitled brats like Max, Lando or Lance.
The problem is that they have not had a normal life in their childhood and have not learnt that respect has to be earned.

[midgetman]

Very true.

Sent from my SM-G981B using Tapatalk

[Tourer]

Originally Posted by Derwent

The drivers say that they want to be treated like adults. There is an easy answer to that. Behave like adults rather than entitled brats like Max, Lando or Lance.
The problem is that they have not had a normal life in their childhood and have not learnt that respect has to be earned.

For sure the drivers aren't perfect, but I agree with them - the FIA Pres lecturing them in the media (rather than talking directly to them) is pretty pathetic IMHO.