FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem is under investigation for allegedly intervening in the result of the 2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, particularly the outcome of a penalty handed to Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso.
Alonso took third place in the grand prix at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit last March, behind only Red Bull Racing drivers Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen.
However, he was later handed a 10-second time penalty for incorrectly serving an earlier penalty for partially positioning his car outside the starting box on the grid, which demoted him to fourth position behind Mercedes' George Russell.
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At the time, it was determined that an Aston Martin mechanic had begun working on Alonso's car before the completion of the previous five-second time penalty which was being served during his first pit stop.
In another twist, Alonso was later promoted back to third post-race as a result of the penalty being overturned. The placing marked his 100th career podium.
The justification given by the stewards for their decision referenced unsolvable debate between the F1 teams and the FIA on whether "a jack touching a car would amount to working on the car".
According to BBC Sport, a whistleblower informed motorsport's governing body that Ben Sulayem was allegedly responsible for Alonso's time penalty being overturned.
The claim was made in a report by an FIA compliance officer to the association's ethics committee, which BBC Sport has seen.
The whistleblower alleged that Ben Sulayem phoned the FIA's vice president for sport for the Middle East and North Africa region, Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, who was working in an official role at the race.
During the call, Ben Sulayem argued that Alonso's penalty should be revoked.
In the report, which was written by compliance officer Paolo Basarri, it says that the whistleblower alleged that Ben Sulayem required the stewards to overturn their decision to issue Alonso with a penalty.
The ethics committee is expected to take four to six weeks to issue its findings.
Ben Sulayem and the FIA are yet to respond to the allegations.
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