‘Letter-gate’ has started to be used colloquially by many in the paddock this week after the revelation that all 20 drivers signed a now infamous communication sent direct to FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem last week.
The topic has been discussed extensively in meetings, in paddock huddles and in the media since The Race revealed the drama on Tuesday morning.
Formula E has stayed quiet on the matter but CEO of the world championship Jeff Dodds addressed the topic when asked for his opinion on it on Friday morning.
When FEN asked Dodds the saga was an irritation or something that will quickly be swept under the carpet he replied that it was “probably between the two of those things.”
“I was going to say it’s a matter between the teams and the FIA but actually it’s not because the teams are largely saying it’s not, so that’s not their perspective. So, it’s a matter really between the drivers and the FIA.”
Dodds outlined the intricacies and nuances of Formula E racing, something which the drivers believe has not been addressed properly by officials, but adjudged the governing body of being open to some of the suggestions made by competitors.
“My honest view is this is complicated racing so wheel-to-wheel, car-to-car, hundreds of overtakes, it’s complicated racing to officiate and I think the FIA in my experience of them is that they are always open-minded, always trying to improve, always listening,” said Dodds.
Ultimately though there was a sense of surprise and some frustration by Dodds on the direct approach to the president, something which was shared by the vast majority of team principals.
“People question refereeing and umpiring (in other sports) and it’s a never-ending debate between athlete and officialdom, so I’m slightly surprised they went straight to the president of the FIA rather than maybe going through the (wider) team here,” said Dodds.
Also addressed was the notion of the leak of the letter itself, portions of which were published by The Race, and the whole document seen in this film.
“I’m honest and this is not a reflection (on the media) because the press, given the information, are going to report on it, I’m slightly surprised someone decided to want to share that because it then makes it a public conversation not a private conversation between the drivers and the FIA but as a promoter we fully support the FIA.
“We work very closely with them and we want this sport to get better and better. If there are things that come out of this to make the sport better from an officiating point of view that’s great.
“But I just think there are ways of going about those things and maybe I would have done it differently.”
Do Drivers Need an Electric GPDA?
There have been several calls for drivers to create a formal body to be represented in a similar fashion to the Grand Prix Drivers Association in F1.
Tommaso Volpe, Ian James and Sylvain Filippi all told FEN this week in Jarama that an official group could be a positive mood, and Mahindra’s Frederic Bertrand who had a decade long career at the FIA prior to his move to Mahindra, was broadly in agreement.
“I don’t know if they have to reproduce the GPDA model or not because normally we discuss things,” said Bertrand.
“This one (the letter) was maybe a bit of an additional push from one or two and then bringing everyone around.
“It would make sense to have something more structured. The letter to the president, for me made the subject very political, whereas it should be a very operational topic. Because the moment it becomes political, you never know where it will end.
“Whereas, if you put it on a very operational level, you start a constructive plan on how to get what you need or at least understand the contraints. And try to agree on compromises because I think everyone here wants the same thing for the good of the championship.
“The other thing is normally it could also go through us (the teams and manufacturers),. We should say, ‘ok, we are not happy with this or that or that’ and then can you please discuss with them and make sure it happens?
“Because it’s not in the race director briefing that you can discuss this. In the race director briefing, you discuss about the race about what are the difficulties or risks you have here and that’s it.”
