FIA chief ‘is obsessed by ban on bling’

FORMULA ONE is divided over whether to add more sprint races to next year’s calendar after the FIA yesterday blocked the move and instead concentrated on what seemed like a vendetta against Lewis Hamilton wearing jewellery while he drives. FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem chaired a meeting in London of the F1 Commission via Zoom from Dubai. And, according to sources, he made a big play of enforcing a regulation banning piercings and the like from the cockpit. One observer said: ‘It seemed strange the president was so fixated by jewellery, especially seeing as Lewis is the only driver majorly impacted by it.’ On the subject of sprint races, the proposal put forward by F1 chief executive Stefano Domenicali, and backed by all 10 teams, was to stage six sprints next year, rising from three this season. But Ben Sulayem demanded more money from F1 — the commercial wing of the sport — to compensate for the extra costs involved in staging the events, to the disgruntlement of the teams.