FIA President Ben Sulayem Promises to End Bias Against American Drivers That Got Nyck de Vries His F1 Debut With AlphaTauri

Sabyasachi Biswas | 12/08/2023
FIA President Ben Sulayem Promises to End Bias Against American Drivers That Got Nyck de Vries His F1 Debut With AlphaTauri

Nearing the end of the 2022 F1 season, Red Bull had their eyes on Colton Herta to replace the outgoing Pierre Gasly at AlphaTauri. However, FIA and their super-license norms prevented AlphaTauri from making the move. Instead, they signed Nyck de Vries. As Herta missed out on realizing his F1 dream by just eight super-license points,  FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem now has come ahead to promise some leniency towards the American drivers to smoothen up their potential F1 entry.

Herta is one of the best drivers in the United States of America currently and has made a huge name for himself in the IndyCar circuit. There were huge expectations surrounding his F1 entry. Plus, with his compatriot Logan Sargeant getting his chance at Williams, the hype surrounding Herta increased tenfold.

Unfortunately, his entry was denied and fans from all over the world, especially the US caused a huge uproar online. However, with FIA’s recent stance on American drivers’, the same difficulties could possibly end.

FIA and Ben Sulayem provide updates to ease American drivers’ F1 entry

According to Business F1, the FIA is working to change the existing points system in the American racing series to help them obtain more Superlicense points. It was a system that denied Herta his F1 debut even though he has been racing at the highest level of motorsport in America.

Mohammed Ben Sulayem, the FIA President has promised a “continuous commitment to the evolution and refinement of its regulatory process.” In a meeting, the FIA involved all the ten F1 teams and the Formula 1 group to discuss a possible solution.

With Herta’s chance already gone for now, the driver who’s next in line for F1 entry is Alex Palou. Palou has recently caught massive attention after his performances with Chip Ganassi Racing in the IndyCar series.

Will Palou face the same fate as Colton Herta?

Palou, the Spanish motorsport driver has been heavily featured in the news as of late. After Nyck de Vries’ poor performances, rumors of Palou taking over surfaced all over the internet. However, the seat ultimately went to ex Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo.

Apart from AlphaTauri, multiple teams were interested in the promising 26-year-old driver. Even though the interest remains, he will remain behind in IndyCar, at least for now.

As things stand, Alex Palou, even though he is a Spanish, but still will need to make sure he gets the best out of new Superlicence system put forward by the FIA and Mohammed Ben Sulayem. Additionally, Palou himself has stated that he would love to join F1. He would love to follow in the footsteps of his country’s legendary driver Fernando Alonso.

Post Edited By: Sabyasachi Biswas
Alex Palou Colton Herta

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Sabyasachi Biswas

Sabyasachi Biswas is an F1 journalist at The SportsRush. With over one and a half decades of love for the sport and five years of experience in the field, he dreams to be a regular at the paddock when the lights go out. A Red Bull fan and F1 fan in general over the years, he enjoyed watching Felipe Massa, Sebastian Vettel, and Max Verstappen dominate the track. Apart from F1, he's also a big-time Madridista and Federer fanatic. He was a sub-junior level footballer, won inter-district quizzes and debate competitions back in school. A travel freak throughout, he tries different cuisines and learns new cultures whenever he's away from the keyboard.

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