With the most recent announcement that 2023 FIA sporting director Steve Nielsen has chosen to resign from his seat. Nielsen was appointed the position to replace Michael Masi after Masi’s role in the 2021 Formula One title controversial decision that crowned Max Verstappen the 2021 world champion and prevented Lewis Hamilton from reaching his 8th career title.
The biggest motivation for the move was the FIA’s lack of willingness to make the necessary changes the Nielsen felt would improve the governing body. The news comes at the worst time for the FIA as they have been the subject of inconsistency for 2023 the season making questionable penalty calls and inconsistent incident rulings. Additionally, the latest spectacle was the farce of an investigation into teh Mercedes F1 Team Principal and his wife. The couple was accused of collusion and sharing information that would constitute a conflict of interest that was in violation of the FIA bylaws. However, there was not merit to these claims despite the FIA spending resources to investigate them.
With Nielsen’s resignation, we can only conclude that the current landscape of the FIA is not open to change. An opportunity for good was missed with Nielsen’s exit so now the FIA is under pressure to find a replacement during this short break before the Formula One season gets started in February.