The president of International Automobile Federation (FIA), Mohammed Ben Sulayem, dismissed Tim Mayerone of the commissioners who imposed Fernando Alonso this 20 second penalty for deliberately braking George Russell, he will therefore no longer hold a position at the FIA. This departure is part of the cleaning that the Emirati president is doing within the highest body of motorsport.
It is good to remember that Mayer He was one of the members of the Committee of Commissioners with Matteo Perini, Johnny Herbert and Matthew Selley, who signed the document who imposed the biggest sanction of his career on Fernando Alonso. The stewards judged that the Asturian had deliberately slowed down Russell, who had more pace, on the last lap of the race and gave him 20 seconds (the equivalent of a drive-through) in the final standings of the Grand Prix from Australia.
A few months later, Mayer was fired from his position. It seems that the reason for His dismissal is linked to what happened at the last US GP in Austinwhere there was an invasion of the track by around 200 people while some cars were still running. This means a fine of 500,000 euros for the test promoter, including 350,000 euros suspended if this does not happen again.
As revealed by Daily Mail, American promoters made comments that upset Ben Sulayem and that is why the FIA president decided to fire Tim Mayer as the person responsible for these events. The farewell of Mayer, son of McLaren co-founder Teddy Mayer, and a figure with a rich motorsport background, comes in addition to those of Niels Wittich, who holds the position of racing director, who was fired just before the GP of Vegas.
The same week, the president of FIA fires another top official, Paolo BasariCompliance Officer, even if the list is growing longer and longer since Ben Sulayem has been in charge: Steve Nielsen, Deborah Mayer, Tim Goss, Jacob Bangsgaard, Luke Skipper, Edward Floydd, Pierre Ketterer.
Mayer signed the sanction for Alonso
In a highly controversial decision taken three hours after the end of testing, the stewards punished the Spanish driver when they realized that during the fight with the English driver he had intentionally braked excessively, which caused the serious accident of the Mercedes driver. In the official FIA report they emphasize that it is difficult 20 seconds punishment East for “potentially dangerous” driving.
The maneuver of Fernando Alonso that the FIA sanctioned occurred on the last lap of the Australian Grand Prix. When Russell He attacked the Spaniard to overtake him and had a serious accident which left him with his car destroyed on the same track. Race management showed the yellow flag despite Russell himself radioing to show the red flag. However, there were only a few laps left in the race.
By having better pace and the possibility of DRS, Russell tried by all means to overtake Fernando Alonso. The Spaniard, with a lot of experience, defended himself in every way possible and all of them successfully. The Mercedes driver failed to overtake the Aston Martin driver and this incident happened on the last lap.
