George Russell was reluctant to comment on the FIA’s ethics investigation of president Mohammed Ben Sulayem, but the Briton hopes Formula 1 will be given “total transparency” and presented with “all the facts” related to the cases.
The FIA announced on Tuesday that its Compliance Officer is investigating accusations against "certain members of its governing bodies," following two distinct reports filed by a whistleblower.
The first report alleges that Ben Sulayem intervened to try and overturn a 10-second penalty handed to Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso in last years’ Saudi Arabian GP.
The Spaniard’s penalty arose from work done on his car during a 5-second pitstop penalty. This 10-second sanction was eventually reversed upon an appeal from Aston Martin, placing Alonso back on the podium to the detriment of Russell.
The second report involves a claim by the whistleblower that Ben Sulayem contacted FIA officials days before the Las Vegas GP to convince them not to certify the venue’s circuit, a move that had it gone through would have had dire consequences on F1’s showcase event.
Russell, a director of the Grand Prix Drivers Association, was asked about the allegation incriminating the president of Formula 1’s legislator.
“We want to see all of the facts and just have total transparency, really,” said the Mercedes driver.
“We’re all racing here, we all want a fair and level playing field for us to showcase what we can do. I can’t really comment further.”
Russell added that his team was “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.”
“We just want to see transparency and have that opportunity to race on a fair playing field.”
Alonso was also queried on the matter but suggested all the intrigue that is unfolding behind the scenes is only being talked about because of the lack of action out on the track.
"There is too much talk off-track because on-track activities are not very exciting at the moment,” said Alonso.
“There is one car winning for the last 72 grand prix, more or less dominating three years. So, when this happens in a sport there is always a lot of activity off-track.
“It's more an FIA investigation that we have to respect and see the outcome.
“We are happy with all the evidence and all the proofs that we showed last year, so it was quite a clear resolution for us.
“So, let's see what FIA says on their own investigation, but it's not really up to Aston Martin."
McLaren’s Lando Norris said that he didn’t have enough facts to get involved in the debate, but insisted that “you never want that sort of thing to happen at any point”.
[The FIA ethics case is] a bigger topic,” said Norris. “Again, it's not something that directly involves me. And I'm sure there's the investigations going on and all of that, and I don't know everything about it.
“If it does come up, and the drivers are more involved, then absolutely [I will comment], but of course, it wasn't something that we knew about either.
“And I don't know all the facts about it. So, it's not something I can speak about, but you never want that sort of thing to happen at any point. Because of preference or whatever it is from any side.
“So yeah, as long as that gets resolved, then all looks good.”
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