The anticipated culture change at the top of motorsport that still hasn’t arrived

Should one premiership end in controversy and acrimony, the next occupier of the office is well-advised to distance themselves from the turmoil that went before. They will want to impose a different philosophy and install new faces to prove they are the right way forward.

This is precisely what the remaining candidates seeking to become the next Tory leader are currently attempting to do to relegate Boris Johnson to the pages of history. It is also what the FIA appeared to be enacting as 2021 rolled into the new year.

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Three days after the tumultuous Abu Dhabi title decider, the governing body issue a widely panned statement. It read: “[The events] notably generated significant misunderstanding and reactions from Formula 1 teams, drivers and fans.” Many perceived those words to mean: ‘we didn’t do anything wrong; it’s your fault for being angry’. It came across as an act of back-covering that failed to meaningfully engage in the criticism.

This official communication was one of the very final acts to come under the leadership of Jean Todt. Two days later, on 17 December, Mohammed ben Sulayem succeeded him as president of the FIA. This was the time to start afresh and rebuild relationships.

The initial signs were very promising where F1 was concerned. A full investigation into Abu Dhabi was announced and (while not necessarily right to celebrate the fact) race director Michael Masi’s position was seen as untenable. He was moved within the FIA – and on Tuesday announced as having departed the organisation altogether. Ben Sulayem’s leadership was making a mark.

But we’re now seven months into 2022, seven months into his first term, 11 races into the F1 season. It’s not the largest sample size and this isn’t the new resident of the White House trying to get a landmark piece of legislation to the floor in the first 100 days. Nevertheless, it is difficult to say that the FIA is markedly different.

Take Sebastian Vettel copping a suspended €25,000 fine at the Austrian Grand Prix last weekend for storming out of the Saturday evening drivers’ briefing. His frustrations are understood to have been based around track limits and pit entry requirements. Not pedalling his own agenda but rather working for the betterment of the series by addressing topics that have repeatedly caused chagrin in 2022.