Mohammed bin Sulayem: The FIA ​​president allegedly asked officials not to certify the Las Vegas Grand Prix

Mohammed bin Sulayem, the head of Formula 1's governing body, allegedly asked officials not to certify the Las Vegas circuit for its race last year.

The whistleblower says they were told “at the request of the FIA ​​President” to find a way to not pass the safe circuit for the race.

The claim is contained in a report submitted by the FIA's compliance officer to the Ethics Committee.

BBC Sport has seen the report.

An FIA spokesman said: “From a sporting and safety perspective, the approval of the Las Vegas circuit followed the FIA ​​protocol regarding inspection and approval.

“If you recall, there was a delay in making the track available for inspection due to ongoing construction work by the local organiser.”

The report quoted the whistleblower as saying that they were contacted by their manager, “who, at the request of the FIA ​​President, asked him to find some concerns to prevent the FIA ​​from certifying the circuit before the weekend of racing.”

The compliance report quotes the whistleblower as saying that “the purpose was to discover an error in the route in order to withhold the licence.”

He added: “He asked to be more specific. [the whistleblower] He said the problems at the circuit were supposed to be artificially identified regardless of their actual existence, with the ultimate goal of withholding the licence.

The whistleblower said that they assigned an official to perform this task, and mentioned the names of other officials who were in the room at the time.

BBC Sport did not identify the people mentioned in the report.

The report adds that officials “were unable to find any concerns about the circuit and therefore confirmed that the circuit was suitable for racing.”

BBC Sport has learned that other officials who were present at the time have different recollections of the events than the whistleblowers.

It is not clear why Bin Sulayem wanted FIA officials to refuse to certify the Las Vegas track.

The race was a poster event for Formula 1, and commercial rights holder Liberty Media invested at least £500 million in the event in the hope of using it to promote the sport in the US and around the world.

But the backdrop to Las Vegas, the penultimate race of last season, was two years of tension between Liberty Media and the FIA, with Ben Sulayem keen on numerous occasions to extract more money from Formula 1 for the FIA.

The contract between the two parties stipulates that the commercial rights holder will pay the FIA ​​approximately $40 million annually to perform its duties in F1 legislation.

An F1 spokesman declined to comment.

Early on the first day of practice, Carlos Sainz's Ferrari hit a dislodged drain on the Las Vegas Strip, the centerpiece of the track.

The accident damaged the chassis of his Ferrari and led to the cancellation of the first practice session and the delay of the second session.

The session was scheduled to begin at midnight. Spectators were sent home at 01:30 before the start of the second session. It eventually started two and a half hours late and finished at 04:00.

The drainage problems were caused by a crack in the underfloor tire under the hood, possibly caused by car forces or Sainz's Ferrari hitting it.

The screws attaching the cover to the drain were intact and it was confirmed that no inspection had found the problem before training began.

All Grand Prix races are subject to a post-event FIA report which identifies the issues that have arisen and how they were dealt with.

The compliance report is the latest in a series of controversies surrounding Ben Slimane since he took office in December 2021.

Recently, Bin Sulayem inserted himself into the controversy surrounding Red Bull team principal Christian Horner.

During last weekend's Bahrain Grand Prix, the FIA ​​came under pressure from Mercedes and McLaren Formula 1 principals Toto Wolff and Zak Brown to look into allegations of inappropriate behavior against Horner, who denied the allegations.

The 50-year-old has been the subject of an internal investigation at Red Bull. The company announced last week, on the eve of the first practice in Bahrain, that the complaint had been “dismissed.”

According to Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf, after three-time Red Bull champion Max Verstappen failed to give Horner unconditional support at a press conference in Bahrain, Bin Sulayem approached the Dutchman and said he should publicly back his boss.

It is learned that Verstappen responded to BBC Sport by saying that Ben Sulayem should launch his own investigation into the matter.

On the same day, Bin Sulayem posted on Instagram a photo he took during the opening of the Bahrain Racecourse in 2004, sitting next to Prince Andrew. The post has since been deleted.

During the off-season, the FIA ​​launched a compliance investigation into Mercedes team principal Wolff and his wife Suzy on the basis of allegations in a magazine about conflicts of interest.

The investigation was withdrawn just two days later, after angry interventions from Mercedes, Formula 1 and the other nine teams, who all said they had not made a complaint.

Insiders say he and/or the FIA ​​could face legal action over the interference.