FIA official rejects fears she could favour Mercedes in new role

Shaila-Ann Rao’s appointment has caused controversy in the F1 paddock

The FIA has a new interim general secretary (Getty Images)

The FIA’s new interim chief has rejected claims she will favour her former employer Mercedes in the role.

Shaila-Ann Rao was appointed to F1’s governing body as interim secretary general for motorsport in June by the FIA president Mohammed bin Sulayem, and the announcement brought questions from the F1 paddock, after Rao had spent several years working as general counsel for Mercedes and later special advisor for team principal Toto Wolff.

Wolff’s counterpart at Ferarri, Mattia Binotto, called on the FIA to prove Rao would be an impartial figure at the top of the sport.

“On the concern of Shaila-Ann, yes, certainly, it’s a concern,” Binotto said at the time. “She’s a great person, she’s got a lot of experience. She will certainly be capable of doing the job. I’m pretty sure on that. It’s down to them to make sure there will be no conflicts of interest at all, to behave properly. And it’s down to the president to ensure it. I’ve got the trust they will do it.

“As Ferrari, it’s a concern. I’m pretty sure that through the behaviours, through the decisions, they will prove it’s a wrong concern.”

Speaking to Corriere della Sera in Italy, Rao dismissed those concerns and said she just wants to get on with the job.

“The world of F1 is like that, you go from one team to another. It is full of exes of something, even [F1 president] Stefano Domenicali is ex-Ferrari. But I don’t worry about certain rumours, I move on and continue to do what I have always done: work.”

Asked how the FIA would tackle the ongoing row around porpoising in F1, Rao added: “At the moment it is only a proposal and has not yet been finalised,” she said. “And in any case, we work for the safety of the drivers. Always. What would happen if we did not intervene when safety is at stake?’”