The official FIA awards ceremony took place the night before in Bologna, ending well after midnight, and we talked about the main events. But in the final, when the head of Red Bull Racing and Max Verstappen collected their trophies for winning the Constructors’ Championship and the individual classification, there was an episode that needed to be told separately.
Christian Horner and FIA President Mohammed bin Sulayem, standing on the podium under the lenses of television cameras, disagreed over the result of the Japanese Grand Prix.
After receiving the Constructors’ Championship from Stefano Domenicali, Horner spoke proudly of his team’s performance in 2022, but noted that Verstappen won the second title ahead of schedule at the Japanese stage of the championship, Red Bull’s head said Racing. that the end of the race at Suzuka was in fact ambiguous. Surely everyone remembers that when the race ended, it was not immediately clear how many points would be awarded to the top ten riders.
The distance of the Japanese Grand Prix was shortened and the riders were able to complete just over half of the laps, so no one expected the FIA to decide to award the top ten full points. It was this circumstance that ensured that Max became champion four stages before the end of the season.
Mohammed bin Sulayem did not ignore Horner’s remark and responded as follows: “You say there was an ambiguous situation in Japan? Not! The FIA was blamed for the way the points were awarded at the time, but the FIA doesn’t make the rules, the teams do it, we just apply them. Overall thanks for this!
It was clear that the president of the federation was boiling over and he decided not to miss the opportunity to make his point clearly known at the gala ceremony, which of course did not do him any favors.
It seems that Horner was surprised by such speeches from bin Sulayem, but then Stefano Domenicali, who was standing next to him, intervened in the situation.
“Okay guys, let’s not get distracted!” – said the president of Formula 1, making a gesture with his hand, similar to how the referee in the ring breeds grabbed boxers.
However, the last word remained with bin Sulayem: “Everything related to the FIA was absolutely clear to me, so thank you very much!”
Afterwards, however, as a sign of reconciliation, the federation’s president shook hands with Horner and exclaimed, “They deserved to win—all winners deserve it!”
Source: F1 News
I’m Todderic Kirkman, a journalist and author for athletistic. I specialize in covering all news related to sports, ranging from basketball to football and everything in between. With over 10 years of experience in the industry, I have become an invaluable asset to my team. My ambition is to bring the most up-to-date information on sports topics around the world.
