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Mohammed Ben Sulayem and Helmut Marko are in the headlines on Thursday (Image: Getty)
The FIA has fallen under the spotlight again after the Motorsport UK chief threatened legal action over the governance of the organisation. President Mohammed Ben Sulayem is increasingly unpopular following a series of misjudged campaigns.
On the track, the countdown until the first race weekend of the season has reached seven days with media day in Melbourne taking place this time next week.
and will be on the edge of their seats waiting for the first race after a strong pre-season test, while , and have work to do throughout the 2025 campaign.
Express Sport keeps you up to date with the latest F1 news with our rolling live blog below…
Marko names McLaren as title favourites
Helmut Marko has selected as the team to beat heading into the 2025 F1 season after a strong pre-season test.
“In my opinion, it will be a three-way or four-way battle between , , and us,” he told Sport.de. “Although, if you look at the test results, already has a head start. That was the case in both the short and long runs. The current favourite is clearly .”
Asked about the gap between and , he continued: “It’s hard to say exactly what that looks like, because the weather conditions were completely out of the norm. It was cold, there was strong wind. It was even raining.
“It was only the case on Wednesday, when we were on a par with . But on Friday, the last day, I would say that we were still two to three tenths behind in the long run. What’s more, ’s tyre wear was also significantly better than our data indicated.”
FIA threatened with legal action
David Richards, chairman of Motorsport UK, has threatened legal action against the FIA due to the governance of Mohammed Ben Sulayem.
The FIA president is wildly unpopular within the F1 community and has made plenty of enemies with a number of aggressive clampdowns, including on driver swearing, and a handful of scandals, including the brief investigation into Susie Wolff.
In a lengthy and strongly-worded statement released on Wednesday, Richards wrote: “For some time now I’ve had concerns about the erosion of accountability and good governance within the FIA. As you may have seen in the press, an issue has recently emerged that has compelled me to take a stand and needs an explanation.”
He went on to add: “Various techniques have also been deployed with the effect of limiting the proper function of the World Motor Sport Council, primarily the use of e-voting which removes the opportunity for much needed discussion and debate on key subjects.
“This has become increasingly worrying and the final straw for me, three weeks ago, was being asked to sign a new confidentiality agreement that I regarded as a ‘gagging order’.”
Richards went on to add: “Our Motorsport UK lawyers, along with our French Legal Counsel, have challenged the FIA on their actions by setting out a clear set of questions that the FIA leadership needs to answer.
“It is very disappointing to report that we have still not received an answer to these or the fundamental question I raised: where in the FIA Statutes does it provide for an elected member to be barred from a meeting?”
Mohammed Ben Sulayem is coming under increasing pressure (Image: Getty)
Good morning!
Good morning and welcome to Express Sport’s rolling news coverage. We’ll keep you up to date with the biggest F1 stories as they happen ahead of the 20225 season opener in Melbourne.