Newly-elected FIA president threatens to punish Hamilton
Former F1 champion Lewis Hamilton has been threatened with sanctions.
Mohammed Ben Sulayem, newly-elected president of the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) gave the warning Friday.
This follows the British driver bitter reaction to losing the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix final to Dutchman Max Verstappen last Sunday.
To cap it up, the 7-times winner snubbed FIA’s annual end of season prizegiving Gala.
Sulayem was not impressed.
“If there is any breach, there is no forgiveness in this,” he said.
“Forgiveness is always there. But rules are rules. I know Lewis is really sad about what happened. I would say he is broken. But we have to look into if there is any breach.
“[After] a few hours now as president, I cannot give answers without going back to the facts.”
Controversy
Hamilton’s season ended controversially when he was overtaken by the Dutchman on the final lap of the finale.
He looked set to win the race and title after leading comfortably for most of it, but a Safety Car and a decision from Michael Masi to allow only the five lapped cars between the title contenders to unlap themselves allowed Verstappen to prevail.
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Finishing second under such circumstances incensed Hamilton and his team Mercedes – who initially contested the final outcome but have since backed down.
New Dawn
Sulayem himself campaigned under the banner “FIA for Members”, committing to double motor sport participation worldwide, strengthen diversity and inclusion and be a leading opinion-former on sustainable mobility.
A former Rally driver, he was 14-time FIA Middle East Rally Champion, winning 61 international events from 1983 to 2002.
His first task would now be to heal whatever rift may have arisen following the Abu Dhabi race.
