F1 News: FIA Appoints Former Journalist As New F1 Commissioner As Sport Aims For Strategic Shift

The FIA needs further help with its strategies for Grand Prix racing.

To help formulate strategies and make further improvements to Formula 1, the FIA has appointed a new F1 Commissioner. Dieter Rencken, a former journalist who was the advisor to FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem for many months, will take over the role effective immediately.

Rencken will be assisting in the formulation and implementation of fresh improvements taking place in F1 on behalf of the governing authority, and will directly report to Ben Sulayem. 

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In addition, he will also assist in the formation of the document in accordance with which Formula 1 is run- the new Concorde Agreement, which is expected to be enforced in 2026. 

The appointment of an F1 Commissioner was long pending as previous FIA president Jean Todt had made it part of his manifesto when he first took office in 2009. But, the appointment plan was kept aside for two reasons. One was that Todt found it impossible to pay the right candidate the deserved salary, given that the FIA is a non-profit organization. Speaking back then, the former FIA President had revealed:

“We need to find somebody who is willing to give his time, with his capacity, almost free of charge.

“It is something that makes the choice more difficult but we are at quite a good point, and for me I prefer to wait a few months and have the profile I want to find rather than rush to fill the position.”

Eventually, Todt felt that F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone was so potent and capable of running the F1 Commission that a separate commissioner was not needed. 

However, things have changed lately, as Ben Sulayem recently spoke of the need for more people on his team, especially for the new Concorde Agreement. He added:

“It's not a one-man show.

“I always go to our team. If you asked me six months ago, I would have said I don't have enough [of a] good team to negotiate this.

“We have a good single-seater [technical department] we have all of that. But when it comes to negotiation, negotiation is not technical people: technical people are about restrictors, about sound, about PU. That's not what exists with the commercial side.

“So now today, I have a good team. It's good to start now. But our house is not on fire. And the new Concorde Agreement should be fair to all of the three stakeholders: FIA, FOM and the 10 teams, if they are still there. That’s where then I think we will feel good.”