Mohammed ben Sulayem risked angering George Russell and Valtteri Bottas as the FIA president declared that the system of alternating Formula 1 race directors will continue.
Last season, Eduardo Freitas and Niels Wittich shared the role. It was their first year in the job after the sacking of Michael Masi, who was axed as a result of his botched handling of the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, which changed the outcome of the drivers' title race.
The FIA hoped that, by having two people sharing such a demanding role, any problems would be solved. But that did not appear to be the case last season as there were many examples of a lack of consistency as a result of the constant rotation.
It is tricky to recruit for the role as considerable experience is needed, but so few people have it. Wittich is a former race director in the German DTM series, while Freitas split his time between F1 and the World Endurance Championship last year.
While it is not yet known if they will return this year, Ben Sulayem is adamant that two people are needed – despite the late Charlie Whiting carrying out the job admirably on his own for many years. "There is a process now and I have a team who is going through a proper process and training for stewarding, and for race directors," the FIA chief said.
"You cannot just have one race director and rely on them. I see that we should prepare the second role. We cannot rely in the biggest discipline that we have, or any other discipline. What if something happened? If we are going to sustain motorsport, we have to be ready with training."
That declaration is not likely to be well received by Russell. The Brit, who is a director of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association, made it clear last year that he was not a fan of the role being split and believes it would be better if there was one person in complete control.
"We believe that having the rotation isn't the best thing for a sport, for that consistency," he said on behalf of his fellow GPDA members. "We've never had a steward from a previous event at the following race to talk about any certain decisions, I believe."
Bottas agreed with his fellow racer when he gave his own opinion: "One would be better than two or three. That's my feeling. The same person in each race, you always have the same person to discuss with if he's been in all the races before and taken all the feedback and kind of knows our view."
This latest example comes as Ben Sulayem himself faces plenty of resistance from those within F1. He has been FIA president for just over a year, but there are already many inside the paddock who would prefer things if he and his organisation were less involved in the day-to-day running of the sport.
The major dividing lines at the moment are over plans to add a new team to the grid. The FIA is very open to the idea and has even opened an 'Expressions of Interest' process so any prospective entrants can formalise their interest.
But there is resistance in F1 with most of the existing teams demanding more money before even entertaining the idea. Michael Andretti, who is leading one of the more concrete projects with F1 ambitions, has snapped back at those standing in his way by accusing them of being "greedy" and selfish.
