System 1’s house owners have accused the pinnacle of motorsport’s governing physique of creating “unacceptable” remarks concerning the championship’s worth.
FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem on Monday described $20bn (£16.2bn) as an “inflated price ticket being placed on F1”.
A letter despatched by F1 and proprietor Liberty Media to the FIA says the remarks “overstep the bounds of each the FIA’s remit and its contractual rights”.
It added that the FIA “could also be liable” for any injury to Liberty’s worth.
The letter, despatched on Tuesday, which has been seen by BBC Sport, is co-authored by F1’s chief authorized officer Sacha Woodward Hill and Renee Wilm, who performs the identical function for F1’s proprietor Liberty Media.
F1 holds the business rights to the class underneath a 100-year lease settlement signed by the FIA at first of this century. US group Liberty Media purchased F1 in 2017.
The letter constitutes an explosive response to remarks by Ben Sulayem on Twitter on Monday, which got here in response to a report by Bloomberg that Saudi Arabia’s Public Funding Fund (PIF) had tried and failed to purchase F1 for that determine.
Ben Sulayem described the valuation as an “alleged inflated price ticket” and mentioned: “Any potential purchaser is suggested to use frequent sense, think about the better good of the game and include a transparent, sustainable plan – not simply some huge cash.”
He added: “It’s our responsibility to think about what the longer term affect will likely be for promoters by way of elevated internet hosting charges and different business prices [in the event of any such sale].”
The letter from Woodward Hill and Wilm was addressed to the FIA Government and its World Motorsport Council, the game’s legislative physique.
It marks a dramatic escalation within the strained relationship between F1 and the FIA that has been evident throughout Ben Sulayem’s 13-month presidency.
The letter states that underneath the 100-year contract, F1 has “the unique proper to take advantage of the business rights within the FIA F1 World Championship”.
It provides: “The FIA has given unequivocal undertakings that it’ll not do something to prejudice the possession, administration and/or exploitation of these rights.”
It says Ben Sulayem’s remarks, “created from the FIA president’s official social media account, intervene with our rights in an unacceptable method”.
Woodward Hill and Wilm write: “The circumstances during which the FIA would have any function in a change of management of the F1 group are very restricted.
“Any suggestion or implication on the contrary, or that any potential purchaser of the F1 enterprise is required to seek the advice of with the FIA, is fallacious.”
The letter provides that any “commenting on the worth of a listed entity, particularly claiming or implying possession of inside information whereas doing so, dangers inflicting substantial injury to the shareholders and traders of that entity, to not point out potential publicity to critical regulatory penalties.
“To the diploma that these feedback injury the worth of Liberty Media Company, the FIA could also be liable consequently.”
It concludes that F1 and Liberty “hope and belief that it’ll not be mandatory to deal with this difficulty once more”.
The FIA has declined to remark.
What was Ben Sulayem doing?
Senior sources in F1 have questioned the veracity of the declare that the Saudi PIF has tried to purchase F1.
Saudi Arabia is concerned in F1 – its nationwide gas firm Aramco is a company sponsor, and the nation hosts a race that has one of many largest internet hosting charges – however BBC Sport has been instructed that its PIF has not at this stage tried to purchase the game.
Ben Sulayem’s intervention raises a collection of questions as to why he has felt the necessity to get entangled on a business matter that isn’t inside his remit.
The FIA is required to steer clear of business issues inside F1 by an settlement struck with the European Fee greater than 20 years in the past.
And Ben Sulayem’s assertion comes towards the backdrop of constant rigidity between the FIA on one aspect and F1 and the groups on the opposite about the way in which the game is being run.
Liberty bought F1 in 2017 in a deal that valued the game at $8.5bn, since when its international enchantment has elevated considerably.
