‘Total transparency’ needed over Ben Sulayem allegations

Any investigation into the FIA president’s alleged intervention in last year’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix must be handled with “total transparency”, says George Russell.

The Mercedes driver lost third place in the Jeddah race 12 months ago to Fernando Alonso after a penalty decision against the Aston Martin driver was overturned. However it emerged earlier this week the FIA’s Compliance Division is looking into a report which claims the governing body’s president, Mohammed Ben Sulayem, intervened in the matter.

Russell called for clarity over the matter, saying his team did not expect Alonso’s penalty to be overturned.

“We want to see all of the facts and just have total transparency, really,” he said. “We’re all racing here. We want a fair and level playing field for us to showcase what we can do. I can’t really comment further.

“We were surprised a year ago when the result got overturned as the legal team at Mercedes thought they did a great job of presenting our case and initially winning the case and then losing it thereafter. So we just want to see transparency and have the opportunity to race on a fair playing field.”

Alonso’s team was found to have touched his car with a jack while he was serving a five-second time penalty for another infringement. He was given a 10-second time penalty which was overturned after Aston Martin submitted a request for the incident to be reviewed.

The start of the new F1 season had already been overshadowed by a month-long controversy regarding Red Bull team principal Christian Horner before the allegations against Ben Sulayem surfaced. He has also been accused of attempting to block the certification of the new Las Vegas Strip Circuit last year.

Russell said it was disappointing these developments had taken attention away from the opening race of the season.

“I feel that the racing needs to be at the forefront of everything. And this is what we all love and what we’re here to fight for. And it’s a shame when that isn’t the forefront of the media attention.

“But equally, Formula 1 is at the forefront of technology. I think from an entertainment standpoint, I think we’ve been really pushing the boundaries in the last few years.

“And we do need to create an environment that is inclusive for everybody. We’re seeing the demographic change over the past couple of years, and it does need to be inclusive. So unfortunately, you need to have these hard conversations and questions. And going…