Former Formula 1 journalist Dieter Rencken has been appointed by the FIA as F1 Commissioner to assist with the the governing body’s strategies and to lead improvements in grand prix racing.
Rencken, who has been working as an advisor to FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem for several months, will assume the additional role with immediate effect.
As reported by Autosport, Rencken will be tasked with assisting in the process of implementing improvements for F1 on behalf of the FIA. The former journalist will report directly to Ben Sulayem.
In addition, Rencken is expected to play a large role in the structuring of the next Concorde Agreement which is expected in 2026.
The Concorde Agreement is a contract between the FIA, the Formula 1 Group and the teams which dictates television revenue splits, prize money allocation and the terms by which teams compete.
Former FIA president Jean Todt touted the idea of introducing an F1 Commissioner to the fold in his manifesto before assuming office in 2009.
Those plans later died down on the grounds that, as a non-profit organisation, the FIA was unable to offer a suitable salary to candidates.
“We need to find somebody who is willing to give his time, with his capacity, almost free of charge,” Todt said at the time.
“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.”
Bernie Ecclestone’s position as F1 supremo at the time gave Todt the confidence to abandon the idea, but last month, Todt’s successor Ben Sulayem raised the idea once more.
“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 [Concorde Agreement],” the FIA president said.
“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.”
South African-born Rencken has held permanent FIA accreditation since 2000, and has spent much of his career investigating the sport’s internal politics and commercial inequalities.
“This is the highest position a South African has attained in the FIA,” Anton Roux, Chairman of Motorsport South Africa, said congratulating his compatriot.
“Rencken has been a respected F1 journalist for over 25 years and his experience, together with his passion for motorsport generally, undoubtedly makes him a valuable addition to the FIA President’s team,
His career before journalism isn’t mentioned, but collecting information, analysing and writting, is not really a Suitably Qualified and Experienced Person with the real technical SQEP need of managing a prototype open wheel series,
As usual, is FIA appointing a gifted amateur ‘Good Old Boy’.
After all all the really qualified are at the end of their career, or only stay in FIA a few years.
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Dieter enjoyed a successful career in the commercial world before he took up journalism and whilst working in F1 has demonstrated first class knowledge, total nous and a fantastic ability to drill down into the facts and figures of the business side of F1. I cannot think of a more suitable candidate to take the role of F1 Commisioner. He is just the sort of switched on person the FIA needs for the role as specified and I wish him well.