Mayer stated he was fired by way of a textual content from considered one of Ben Sulayem’s assistants on Tuesday.
“For a federation that depends on volunteers to fireplace by textual content any person who has made a big contribution doesn’t communicate nicely of the administration of the federation,” Mayer stated.
He stated the rationale for his dismissal as a steward was Ben Sulayem “took offence” on the contents of an attraction doc filed by the Circuit of the Americas (Cota), host of the US Grand Prix in Austin, Texas.
Mayer represented the Austin organisers in a ‘proper of assessment’ listening to into a choice to tremendous them 500,000 euros, with 350,000 euros of it suspended, after a observe invasion on the finish of the F1 race on 20 October.
Cota officers had been “not finest happy” on the judgement, Mayer stated. The same scenario on the Canadian Grand Prix this yr led to a warning.
Mayer, who was appearing within the attraction in his position as sporting organiser of the three grands prix within the USA, stated that his involvement within the attraction initially led to to him being faraway from the stewards panel on the Sao Paulo Grand Prix earlier this month, earlier than his firing as a 2025 steward this week.
“The official motive that might be given is that they felt there was a battle of curiosity with the FIA as I had led the appropriate of assessment in my position as organiser,” Mayer stated.
“However that’s not why I used to be fired. Being an organiser is a task that I’ve fulfilled, benefiting the FIA, for over 12 years. This is not new.
“Regardless of the matter being resolved quietly and amicably, he is nonetheless upset and determined to fireplace me. After 15 years of volunteering my time as a steward, a decade educating different stewards and lots of of hours volunteering in different roles, I acquired a textual content from considered one of his assistants.”
Mayer stated that Ben Sulayem felt a component in the appropriate of assessment paperwork “was a private assault on him”.
“I did not write that a part of the doc, nevertheless it was my job to current it,” Mayer stated.
“There was no intention of making an attempt to trigger an issue with the FIA and I’ll proceed because the sporting organiser of the three US Grands Prix. This was such a minor level that it’s baffling that anybody would take such offence.”
Cota succeeded in having the language of the appropriate of assessment verdict modified, eradicating a discovering that organisers had “did not take cheap measures”.
“In US legalese, that’s synonymous with negligence, which is problematic for a US company physique,” Mayer stated.
“Following the appropriate of assessment listening to, the stewards subsequently agreed with us and altered the penalty to a breach of Article 26.7 of the F1 rules, which states that nobody is allowed within the observe earlier than all of the automobiles are within the pits, which is an announcement of reality. Some followers did attain the observe.
“Within the course of, there have been damage emotions on behalf of the president, which I believe is odd as a result of there was no trigger for his emotions to be damage when everybody else handled this in an expert method.”
