FIA President Reveals New Department For Increased Race Officials In 2025

Saajan Jogia | Sep 16, 2024

May 4, 2024; Miami Gardens, Florida, USA; Red Bull Racing driver Max Verstappen (1) lead the field into turn one during the F1 Sprint Race at Miami International Autodrome. Mandatory Credit: Peter Casey-Imagn Images / Peter Casey-Imagn Images

FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem has revealed the importance of creating a new Officials Department, stating that race officials cannot be "ready-made." The department aims to produce trained stewards to meet the growing demand, especially with the 24-race Formula 1 calendar. Set to begin in 2025, the initiative will focus on developing officials at all levels, addressing the need for more race oversight.

The governing body's president also raised concerns about the "danger" of Formula 1 depending on a single race director during events, especially in cases of unforeseen health emergencies. The department aims to address this by supporting the recruitment of officials at a regional level. However, Ben Sulayem acknowledges the challenge of attracting new volunteers, a difficulty he believes has worsened since the pandemic. Speaking to Motorsport.com about having a new Officials Department, he said:

“It is so important to have it.

“You can’t go randomly, you can’t go on: it’s just the way it is. There has to be an improvement.

“Then if you look at our officials and race directors: we have an issue and the issue is that we don't have [enough] race directors. So can you just simply go and order them? No. I said it in one of my tweets. I said: ‘You cannot order them on Amazon or Google.’ No, you have to make them, you have to train them.”

Referring to the example where another race director needs to be flown to the race venue in case the existing race director is unable to offer his services, he added:

“So what do you do? Bring someone else in who is not 100%? Let's say, you have one or two spares. How long will it take to fly them here if something happens, God forbid, anything with health or something? So we have to be able to meet the level of demand and have to have a pathway that’s good.”

Addressing the non-availability of volunteers, he explained:

“Now people choose where to give and how to give their time. So they prefer to go to hospitals, to help people. But then, when they do want to do it for the love of the sport, do we then go: ‘Sorry,' and just stick to the old system? No.”

He added:

“I said ‘[It is] amazing, we have departments for many things, but we don't have a department for one thing which is like a spinal cord for us, which is the stewarding and race direction.’ So now we have a proper department.”

In addition to establishing the new department, regulations will be reviewed and updated to clearly define the criteria for obtaining, maintaining, and advancing through license grades. Ben Sulayem highlighted that past practices, such as hastily appointing race directors or stewards without proper qualifications, created challenging situations, calling the approach both dangerous and flawed. He said:

“‘Oh, we need another race director, just bring him.’ Or: ‘We need another steward, just take him.’ It doesn't go like this. It's dangerous. It's wrong.

“Then there are a lot of good people, young people, women and men, who want to be involved in the sport. But you need to guide them, you need to train them, you need also to reach out to them. This department will be in charge officially. Because you can do it with volunteers, but you would need to have a proper department for it, which is dedicated to it. It's needed. I don't know how we ran actually for many years without having a proper department.”