Al-Faisal v Mecha GP Libel Scandal
Saeed Al Faisal vs Mecha Grand Prix was a planned court case by Mecha Grand Prix's senior management against the Saudi Arabian driver, Saeed Al Faisal . Before the Japanese Grand Prix, the team filed a lawsuit against former driver Al Faisal after light criticisms about the team following his announcement to drive for ArrowTech. Despite criticisms from the paddock, and the risk of ruining the team with the financial implications of going to court, Mecha's owners were passionate about suing Al Faisal for alleged libel. The lawsuit was highly criticised by F1RWRS drivers and newspapers, who expressed their disgust at the actions of Mecha GP. British driver James Davies, who at the time was contracted to the team, stated that "the car [Mecha FM-14] might as well not even have a [functioning] steering wheel". Jones Racing owner and driver Sammy Jones also launched a scathing attack on the team, saying: "Un-bloody-believable... They clearly can't take this sort of stick, despite giving it out left, right and centre...I can't see where they're going to find the money to fund this legal action either, maybe they've saved it up after spending bugger all on what is clearly a crap car.". Scuderia Alitalia stated that they didn't give a 'toss' about the situation, which surprised much of the paddock, as normally Scuderia Alitalia were the first to jump on any lawsuit bandwagon.
Following unanimous support in favour of Al Faisal, the lack of any money to pay the lawyers, and threats of severe penalties for the team, the case was quickly dropped. Instead of trying to hush up the morbid affair, team management continued to demand an apology from Al Faisal. Since then, both have been engaged in a dispute about the demand of apology from the team, drawing further criticism from the other teams and drivers. The dispute has since escalated, and has now expanded to involve Davies, who continues to make scathing comments at the team and their lacklustre equipment.
The scandal was one of two high profile incidents for the Mecha GP management in 2014, with their actions in the season-ending Remindergate scandal further lowering Mecha's reputation among the paddock. The team's senior management is now forbidden from contacting other team bosses after a series of malicious and insulting emails were sent to many people, most notably the Daihatsu head office, the new owner of the Sunshine team. These controversies led to executive management unanimously voting to impeach principal Mahmud Effendi from his position.
