Photo: ACI Sport
Emanuele Pirro has been named as the new president of the FIA Single-Seater Commission, succeeding Gian Carlo Minardi.
Five-time Le Mans 24 Hours winner and former Formula 1 driver Pirro moves into the role 58 days after leaving his job as driver development director at McLaren. The 62-year-old Italian spent less than a year heading up the McLaren Driver Development Programme.
Minardi was elected commission president in April 2022, and has stepped down from the role now as he is 76 years old and the maximum age the president can be is 75.
In his first public statement as commission president, Pirro spoke about the Formula 4 element of this year’s Motorsport Games, which takes place at Valencia’s Ricardo Tormo circuit on October 23-27.
“Its inclusion in the FIA Motorsport Games since the first edition perfectly aligns with our strategy as the event seeks to promote categories for upcoming talents, and I’m really much looking forward to discovering who will walk in the footsteps of our 2022 gold medalist Andrea Kimi Antonelli,” he said.
Pirro has a history in motorsport administration, having been a member of the FIA Drivers Commission, worked as a steward in F1 and been a member of the Italian ONS Circuit and Safety Commission.
There is plenty of change on the horizon for FIA-organised single-seater series, with a new Formula 3 car being introduced next year, more sustainable fuels being adopted, a second-generation Formula Regional chassis that will debut in 2026 as well as an overhaul of F1’s technical regulations that year.