A senior steward fired by Formula 1’s governing body says the FIA is “running out of people to do those jobs”.
The comments by Tim Mayer – a senior steward for 15 years who says he was fired this week – come after BBC Sport learned that Janette Tan, the deputy Formula 2 race director, has also left the FIA.
Mayer and Tan bring the number of senior figures to depart to four in just over two weeks, after the firings of the former F1 race director Niels Wittich and FIA compliance officer Paolo Basarri.
Tan had been set to take over as F2 race director at the final two rounds of the season – the Qatar and Abu Dhabi Grands Prix over the new two weekends.
But her departure means that Rui Marques will now be race director for both F1 and F2 at the two events, as well as the female-only F1 Academy.
Marques made his debut as F1 race director at the Las Vegas Grand Prix last weekend, following the sacking of Wittich. Marques was formerly the F2 race director.
Mayer told BBC Sport in an exclusive interview that he was “incredulous” at the departure of Tan, who is also the director of race operations at the Singapore Grand Prix.
“She is the epitome of the type of person we want working for the FIA, the best of the next generation of race directors,” Mayer said. “I don’t know the circumstances, but one would think they would work very hard to keep someone of her character.”
The decision to ask Marques to cover off both F1 and F2 in Qatar and Abu Dhabi is against convention. The last time one person did both was the late FIA F1 director Charlie Whiting, who died in 2019. He stopped combining the two roles more than a decade ago when it was decided the workload was too high.
“I know how hard both of those jobs are,” Mayer said. “I like Rui a lot, but it will put him under incredible pressure.
“There aren’t a lot of ‘platinum-level’ FIA race directors, which is the FIA’s highest level certification. I’m one of them. It’s a lot of work and, if you are doing the job right, you wake up every day with an ulcer thinking of all the various things you need to be thinking about.
“They’re not doing themselves any favours. They are literally running out of people to do those jobs.”
Mayer also addressed his own sacking, and other recent controversies to do with the FIA.
Tan was unavailable for comment.
The FIA has not responded to requests for comment.
In the past year, the FIA has also lost sporting director Tim Nielsen, technical director Tim Goss, chief executive officer Natalie Robyn, along with the head of commission for women Deborah Mayer, secretary general of mobility Jacob Bangsgaard and director of communications Luke Skipper.
President ‘wanted swearing clampdown’
Mayer added that the recent controversial decision to punish drivers for swearing came directly from the FIA president, Mohammed Ben Sulayem.
“His view is that the drivers need to be penalised for swearing – and what has happened since reflects that,” Mayer said.
Stewards’ panels are meant to be independent bodies. But Mayer said: “There are times when he has directly involved himself in making his views known. Not with the stewards directly, but via his staff.
“Part of the job of the stewards is to enforce the FIA’s policy on the rules.
“Technically, bad language is outlawed, so it’s not unfair. Whether it’s sensible we should be chasing drivers for rather mild swearing is another matter.
“Most drivers, English is their second, third or fourth language and every go-kart kid in the world, it’s the first word they are taught in English. There are other ways to handle that kind of thing unless your desire is to flex your muscles.”
Why has Mayer left the FIA?
Mayer said he was fired via a text from one of Ben Sulayem’s assistants on Tuesday.
“For a federation that relies on volunteers to fire by text somebody who has made a significant contribution does not speak well of the management of the federation,” Mayer said.
He said the reason for his dismissal as a steward was Ben Sulayem “took offence” at the contents of an appeal document filed by the Circuit of the Americas (Cota), host of the US Grand Prix in Austin, Texas.
Mayer represented the Austin organisers in a ‘right of review’ hearing into a decision to fine them 500,000 euros, with 350,000 euros of it suspended, after a track invasion at the end of the F1 race on 20 October.
Cota officials were “not best pleased” at the judgement, Mayer said. A similar situation at the Canadian Grand Prix this year led to a warning.
Mayer, who was acting in the appeal in his role as sporting organiser of the three grands prix in the USA, said that his involvement in the appeal initially led to to him being removed from the stewards panel at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix earlier this month, before his firing as a 2025 steward this week.
“The official reason that will be given is they felt there was a conflict of interest with the FIA as I had led the right of review in my role as organiser,” Mayer said.
“But that is not why I was fired. Being an organiser is a role that I have fulfilled, benefiting the FIA, for over 12 years. This isn’t new.
“In spite of the matter being resolved quietly and amicably, he’s still upset and decided to fire me. After 15 years of volunteering my time as a steward, a decade teaching other stewards and hundreds of hours volunteering in other roles, I got a text from one of his assistants.”
Mayer said that Ben Sulayem felt an element in the right of review paperwork “was a personal attack on him”.
“I didn’t write that part of the document, but it was my job to present it,” Mayer said.
“There was no intention of trying to cause a problem with the FIA and I will continue as the sporting organiser of the three US Grands Prix. This was such a minor point that it is baffling that anyone would take such offence.”
Cota succeeded in having the language of the right of review verdict changed, removing a finding that organisers had “failed to take reasonable measures”.
“In US legalese, that is synonymous with negligence, which is problematic for a US corporate body,” Mayer said.
“Following the right of review hearing, the stewards subsequently agreed with us and changed the penalty to a breach of Article 26.7 of the F1 regulations, which states that no one is allowed in the track before all the cars are in the pits, which is a statement of fact. Some fans did reach the track.
“In the process, there were hurt feelings on behalf of the president, which I think is odd because there was no cause for his feelings to be hurt when everyone else dealt with this in a professional manner.”