FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem has sacked F1’s leading steward Tim Mayer in another shock dismissal.
Just three weeks after former F1 race director Niels Wittich was axed, before the final three races of the 2024 season, Ben Sulayem has wielded the axe once again in dismissing one of motor racing’s most distinguished figures.
Mayer spent 15 years as an unpaid steward in motor racing but has not been called up since last month’s Mexican Grand Prix.
The 58-year-old also worked for the organisers of the US Grand Prix in Austin, who were summoned after fans invaded the track after the race. According to the Daily Mail, comments made by the US promoters upset Emirati executive Ben Sulayem.
The FIA have been approached for comment.
Mayer is the latest figure to lose his job under the tenure of Ben Sulayem. Sporting director Steve Nielsen quit last December with Deborah Mayer – the former head of the FIA Commission for Women – also leaving her role.
Tim Goss, the single-seater technical director, left in January to join RB, while CEO Natalie Robyn left her role after 18 months in May.
Wittich, who claimed he was sacked after the FIA stated he resigned, has been replaced by Rui Marques.
Ben Sulayem, who took over as FIA president from Jean Todt in December 2021, has seen his tenure overshadowed by a number of controversies.
He had to deal with the aftermath of the controversial ending to the 2021 F1 season in Abu Dhabi, with Michael Masi sacked as race director, and he was also embroiled in a row with Lewis Hamilton over jewellery.
More recently, his comments on drivers swearing received an angry response from the grid, who urged the president to treat them like adults.
Ben Sulayem is likely to be present at the final two F1 races of the 2024 season, in Qatar this weekend and Abu Dhabi next week.
