FIRING STEWARDS BY TEXT! Opinions on the Latest FIA Sackings

This season really is the gift that keeps on giving, isn't it? Not only are we seeing everything happening on track but we're seeing it all go down OFF the track as well.

Mohammed Ben Sulayem has sacked a VOLUNTARY steward through text message, which sounds like the most uprofessional thing in the world to do, especially when it's a steward with a lot of experience and considered one of the best and most respected in his role.

So, will it come to a point where the FIA might actually run out of stewards with what is going on? And why sack one of the top stewards and two race directors in the space of just over a week? Let's have a look.

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[AidanMillward]

Get it while you can! F1 Store Black Friday deals on for today only (29th November 2024): F1BLACKFRIDAY for up to 70% off!

Teas and Seas apply and all that.

[Dat-Mudkip]

Let me tell you a little story (hear me out):

In January 1953, an increasingly suspicious and paranoid Joseph Stalin had nine doctors that were specifically assigned with caring for high ranking officials arrested on various charges. The doctors (6 of whom were Jewish) were accused of all sorts of things, including medical assassinations on several political heads and military officers, being spys for the West, and serving "interests of international Jewry".

Fast forward to February 28, and Stalin had given strict orders that no one should disturb him in his private quarters until noises indicating he was awake were heard, before turning in for the night. Having been berated by Stalin for the lack of progress on the so-called "Doctors' Plot", all the guests (and guards) felt it wise not to anger him any further.

What happened next isn't too clear. Some say he was first checked on at 11 am on March 1. Other accounts claim no one checked on him until 7 pm; still another version says it wasn't until 3 am on March 2 he was checked on. But the story remains the same - he was found unconscious on the floor with pajama bottoms and a shirt, soaked in urine, and unresponsive.

...now with all the doctors he _normally_ would have had attend him currently imprisoned, it took time to get doctors to his aid. This again varies by accounts, ranging from 10 hours to as much as 2 days.
Whenever they did arrive, they concluded he had suffered a stroke. Stalin was pronounced dead just before 10 pm on March 5.


Now, you might be asking what this has to do with Formula 1.

Big Ben over here is becoming increasingly paranoid. Now I'm not saying he's the equivalent of Stalin in even the slightest. (I suspect he would be incapable of wearing a mustache well.) But what I _am_ trying to say is that there are some interesting parallels going on here. Whenever Stalin got paranoid, he would get angry. When he got angry, he would feel the need to remind everyone he was in charge. People were arrested and often executed. This resulted in inexperienced men having to fill the roles, be it in the military or the medical field. The inexperience proved costly every time, be it in war or his very own medical emergency.

By comparison, Big Ben seems to be taking a similar path. Anyone who questions him or hurts his feelings makes him angry. And when he gets angry, he feels the need to remind everyone he is in charge. People get fired without warning or reason.

Keeping this trend going is eventually going to bite Big Ben in the ass. While it (probably) won't kill him physically, it may very well kill all his credibility as a director.

And if a director loses all credibility, it will do unspeakable damage to the sport. I don't think such a thing could kill Formula 1 outright, but it would certainly takes years, possibly decades for F1 to rebuild its image.

[ivaneurope]

NGL, Charlie Whiting's death left a void that can never be filled.

[mikesummers-smith]

When James Hunt said he was going out to look at the track, he usually meant he was going out through the firedoor from the London studio for a joint.

[rogerj]

Mohammed Ben Sulayem is the wrong person for the job. I hoped he'd to do the right things but he's fucked up pretty much everything.

[burkezillar]

We've both seen Brundle finish his F1 career, start his TV career, and end his TV career. Now if I hadn't been to the barbers this morning, sat there looking at the grey in my hair, this video would've been the one to make me feel old.

[JohnSmithShields]

It is almost like the boss doesn't like people with opinions.

[Trek]

With regards to Martin, I think he has reduced races indeed due to his heart troubles of recent years which is why he doesn't attend many of the races in the more hotter places - I recall one of the sports magazines doing an interview this year or last where he says it.

The rumour I have seen on twitter and reddit is that he will only do half the races next year because Sky want more women on their screens to try and get younger viewers into the sport and to appeal especially to girls who might have some interest in F1 which is understandable, but the one they have lined up once, and I quote, described Leclarc as "Driving a red car... Is that a Ferr... Ferari? Ferrari? How do you say it?"

[scsutton]

Further to Hill and potentially Brundle's futures in the sport, I'm reminded of this quote from Rocky Balboa in Creed: "Time takes everyone out. It's undefeated". All too true. And it's also appropriate to mention the meeting Stallone and Brundle had on the grid in Vegas, talking about their meeting in Hungary 25 years ago. That's a long time.

[MrBlazemaster]

"Time's getting on"

Damn right lol especially with all the 2nd-generation sons of athletes I saw playing now on the come-up

[adamstewart]

3:40 As a wrestling fan, that statement reads eerily like a 'WWE and `X` have come to terms with their release. We wish them the best in their future endeavours...' message from the late stage Vince days... I hated those, because it just seemed pointless...

[nickwall]

Mohammed Ben Sulayem is going full on Phil Collins (He divorced his 2nd wife by fax) - surprised you didn't mention it
Just another day in paradise at the FIA

[AeroGuy]

The Speedvision crew did the race commentary from a studio in Charlotte, NC for several years. Varsha, Hobbs and Matchett.

[cyberfutur]

5:52 FFS, Jos once drove for Benneton, does this mean Max has a bias towards Alpine?

[cartoonfan]

Mohammed Ben Sillyman has to be gone

[TheWhiskyRebel]

10:43

re: Apex Maxxing

Am I the only one that remembers Max, at the beginning of the season, saying how much he hated the Apex Rule, but that he has to maximize his results within the rules of the sport? I feel like no one ever brings that up.

[Shaggy_matt]

14:58 "so at the rate we're going".... hi, I'm race director Aiden Millward...

[shoestring-budget]

This sacking by text reminds me of a case in my country where a mayor divorced his wife by text which went viral and resulted in his impeachment by the city council

[MattGP]

Think that Ted Kravitz was on ITV in 2001 when Murray was there.

[ibex]

A well made and much needed video. With the ever tightening control Formula 1 has over media access and coverage... There are some things the professional media dare not mention or cover properly.
I suspect the changes at Sky are related to this. The English-speaking international markets for F1 coverage (which couldn't justify sending their own commentators to races) used to just take the BBC's feed (then ITV's), and more recently Sky's (or Channel 4's). But it seems like Liberty/Formula 1 now want to take full control of that themselves.
Despite being highlights only, Channel 4's coverage was of excellent quality. But for the last few years it's been awful. It's not just the pre-/post-race coverage which has been wrecked but the race itself now seems to be just edited from Fomula 1's own feed. (The first sign of what was to come was when they dropped Ben Edwards as commentator.)
Now it seems like the same will be happening to Sky and they might soon be broadcasing Formula 1's race feed also. (How willingly Sky is in this is anyone's guess - it's conceivable they might wish to make such a change to cut costs.)
Even BBC's superb Chequered Flag podcasts are a pale shadow of what they were a couple of years ago, the last bastion of quality F1 coverage here in the UK. They too no longer feel like they are independent and the quality has been degraded.
(Yes I'm aware they have been produced by multinational giant IMG for some time, including when they were still 'good'.)