Formula 1 will see an expanded team of race officials in 2025, with more than one race director and a larger pool of stewards set to oversee the championship.
That's according to FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem, who addressed the latest governance controversies during an event in Madrid, insisting that recent turmoil within the governing body was necessary to "clean house."
Speaking to the Spanish media, he also defended the FIA's clampdown on driver misconduct, including stricter penalties for swearing.
"If they can control an F1 car, they can control their words," he stated.
One of the most contentious moments from the 2024 season came at its conclusion when race director Niels Wittich was unexpectedly removed from his role. His replacement, Rui Marques, was left to juggle both his temporary Formula 1 duties and his original responsibilities overseeing Formula 3 and Formula 2.
"We need new blood among the officials to sustain the business of motorsport," Ben Sulayem said.
He confirmed that, rather than relying on a single race director, the FIA will introduce a rotating system in 2025.
"We will know in the next few days who that will be and how many will be used," he said. "But there will certainly be new faces and there will be more than one, that's for sure.
"There have been people learning, people working behind the scenes, all the time. You cannot simply throw someone into this great challenge," he added.
Ben Sulayem dismissed concerns about whether teams or drivers approve of the changes.
"The FIA is still the owner of the championship," he stated. "And then, you know, the teams can complain, the drivers can complain, but they don't want to pay for it.
"It's taken us more than two and a half years to get to what we're achieving now. Do we have the results? We'll know the results when the season starts.
There are some mistakes, and then the FIA is blamed. But why can't the criticism be productive instead, saying together, 'how can we find a solution?'
"I tell you, the solution is in training, and the solution is about bringing people in."
On the topic of radio communications and stricter behavioural expectations for drivers, Ben Sulayem suggested that one option could be scrapping the public broadcast of team radios.
"Or do we delay them (the transmissions)?" he added. "Maybe. There are many things we are working on now with our promoter."
