Hardly an issue. Was hired as interim. https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/fia-announces-departure-of-rao-as-interim-secretary-general/10404092/ FIA announces departure of Rao as interim secretary general The FIA has announced the departure of senior figure Shaila-Ann Rao, a former Mercedes executive whose appointment caused concern among rival Formula 1 teams. By: Luke Smith Nov 23, 2022, 10:29 AM Rao joined the FIA in June as its interim secretary general for motorsport, replacing Peter Bayer following his exit from the governing body. Rao previously worked at the FIA as its legal director between 2016 and 2018 before joining Mercedes, serving as general counsel and later as a special advisor to team principal Toto Wolff. Her return to the FIA sparked concern among some rivals, with Ferrari chief Mattia Binotto saying there had to be assurances there would be no conflicts of interest given her prior links. Rao played a role in overseeing the cost cap ruling in recent months, informing Red Bull F1 boss Christian Horner that his team was in breach, the information having already leaked out - something Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko suggested on German TV was “strange.” Red Bull was ultimately handed a $7 million fine and am aerodynamic testing restriction for next year by the FIA, a sanction it labelled as “draconian” and “enormous.” In a statement issued by the FIA on Wednesday, it was confirmed that Rao had left her position after working with FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem through his first year in the role. "Shaila-Ann Rao returned to the FIA to assist the new Presidential Team during the transition period as Interim Secretary General for Motor Sport,” reads the statement. “Shaila-Ann successfully managed this transition period, providing valuable support and assistance to the FIA President and the organisation during this period which is now coming to an end. “Shaila-Ann will now therefore be leaving the FIA following the end of the Formula 1 Season. The FIA thanks Shaila-Ann for her support during this period.” Toto Wolff, Team Principal and CEO, Mercedes AMG, with Mohammed bin Sulayem, President, FIA Ben Sulayem thanked Rao in the statement for her “invaluable contribution” during her time with the FIA, saying she gave him “great support in respect to Formula 1, always acting with professionalism and integrity.” Rao’s exit comes days after Ben Sulayem dismissed suggestions of any pro-Mercedes links within the FIA. “I’ll be very honest with you, and I’ll defend my opinion, but when it comes to Shaila-Ann, there were accusations that she is mainly a supporter of Mercedes,” he said. “But actually, when the [cost cap] penalties were there with both teams, she said that’s a bit harsh from me. “I looked and said: 'My god, there is someone who is accusing her of being with Mercedes, and she’s saying to me that it’s harsh on Red Bull.'”
I disagree it's not a signficant departure. Interim or not, odd things happened the moment she arrived: Mercedes the only team to have somehow made a fix to their car on a new rule introduced, with only the night to have had this done...exactly in the area the FIA specified where it was allowed to make a fix. The the also still unadressed leak from the budget cap, 9 teams accepted at face values, 1 team investigated. She was on the actual commission.
Camon Bas we all know germans don't cheat, it's the Italians!, Remenber the Dieselgate? Or that test tyre that miraculosly solved Mercs problems? Or how to win DTM?....all italians!
I guess the comments from the FIA leader himself mean nothing. The world and everyone is just a conspiracy LOL. She left and no one has proof of anything at all. RedBull won and in a dominating style - no one is happy. Humans are crap.
I must have missed it, did MBS address who leaked it then? The leaker hasn't been identified still. All we have is suspect issues: Shaila joins FIA from Mercedes, the very first race, they somehow made a modification to their car in an area that it was suddenly legit, and no other team could possibly do this in the limited time available. We also have a budget cap leak, whoever leaked it has not been identified, only she's been sacked. When it came to flexi floors that RB supposedly had, everyone rolled with it (still do to this day), where was the proof? Come on.
Yes, forgot about that one. A red flag if there ever there was one. Merc show up with 2 floors stays per side already mounted on their cars before the topic was even discussed. Unbelievable.
Ha lol. No saving these by the FIA and Shaila???? But……but lol - Conspiracy is cancer lol. Seek help!! Mercedes and Aston Martin tech innovations banned for F1 2023 Two extreme aero ideas introduced by Mercedes and Aston Martin this year have been banned from the 2023 Formula 1 season. By:Jonathan Noble Nov 24, 2022, 4:37 PM Image Unavailable, Please Login The innovative concepts, involving the Mercedes front wing endplate and the Aston Martin rear wing, have been made illegal through changes in F1's technical regulations. Both concepts raised eyebrows when they were introduced because, while fully complying with the wording of the rules and being deemed legal by the FIA, they appeared to go against a broad concept that car designs to increase performance did not make it harder for cars to follow each other. Mercedes' radical front wing endplate first appeared at the Miami Grand Prix and featured a unique design in the intersection between the flapped section and the endplate. This was done in order to try to recoup some of the outwash that was lost with the new regulations. The flaps had been swept forward very aggressively in the outer section, so the rear lower edge of the endplate was completely detached from the flaps. Meanwhile, Aston Martin came under the spotlight at the Hungarian Grand Prix when it introduced a rear-wing design that appeared to break one of the key intentions of the 2022 rules. Its design featured a unique arrangement on the front portion of the endplate that allowed the main plane to butt up to it in a more traditional way, thus increasing its span and the downforce that can be generated. The new regulations had hoped to bid farewell to the traditional endplate and wing interaction of the past, with a curved transition between the elements. This was designed to reduce the strength of the tip vortex, thereby limiting airflow disruption and helping in the overall goal of making it easier for cars to follow one another. While the FIA was happy with both concepts to allow them to be used this year, formal tweaks have been made to the 2023 technical regulations to ensure that the grey areas that allowed them have been tidied up. The FIA's single-seater technical director Nikolas Tombazis said: "Obviously this year they were both legal. The regulations have changed on both the front and the rear in different ways to stop those solutions." This has been done through alteration of the rules that are now stricter regarding the sweeping back of front wing flaps, as well as being more specific about rear wing tip definitions. Performance advantage Image Unavailable, Please Login Aston Martin AMR22 rear wing detail Photo by: Giorgio Piola Despite the Aston Martin idea now being banned, its performance director Tom McCullough said he was still proud of the fact that his team had created something so bold amid the restrictive 2022 rules. "I think what was nice this year is the fact that we came up with something novel and new," he said when asked by Autosport for his thoughts on it getting outlawed. "It was a very difficult interpretation of the rules that added performance to our car. It was a part that people couldn't just copy quickly because of how complicated it was to get around several different regulations. "So in a way, we've sort of had that advantage this year because, by the time we brought it to Budapest, it's quite late for people to react to understand it and, from the cost cap [perspective], they had already made their high downforce wings. So for me, I was really happy. "A lot of people were involved in that project for a long time, many months in the toing and froing between the FIA. But I understand: our job is always to make the most of the regulations and, if they change, we have to adapt to that really." Proper processes Image Unavailable, Please Login Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W13, Lance Stroll, Aston Martin AMR22 Photo by: Steve Etherington / Motorsport Images Tombazis has made it clear that, while there is wording within the rules that prevent teams from introducing designs that hurt the racing, the FIA will always go through the proper regulatory processes to close down such possibilities. This means discussing it with teams, and going through the F1 Commission and FIA's World Motorsport Council to make changes for subsequent seasons. Article 3.2.1 of F1's Technical Regulations states: "An important objective of the Regulations in Article 3 is to enable cars to race closely, by ensuring that the aerodynamic performance loss of a car following another car is kept to a minimum. In order to verify whether this objective has been achieved, Competitors may be required on request to supply the FIA with any relevant information." Read Also: Ricciardo "relieved" to finish McLaren F1 stint with clean race Hulkenberg felt "human degradation" towards end of comeback F1 test How F1 teams narrowed their tech focus in final 2022 races Asked if the changes for 2023 were prompted by concerns about the designs hurting the racing, Tombazis said: "Some of these things where we changed the rules are in that category. "But that article [3.2] wasn't intended that: 'Okay, if you're smart and you have a solution, we're going to take it off the car immediately.' It just gave an explanation about sometimes why we have to intervene with the regulations. "But we've still done it via governance. We don't have the right to just say: 'we don't like this, let's ban it.'"
This won't please the conspiracy theorists who keep saying the FIA is in Mercedes' pocket. What's next ?
Image Unavailable, Please Login You are aware of her position in the FIA? She is not in charge of what technical tricks are allowed or not. What a take.
