FIA president takes back seat as dissent in paddock grows
Ben Sulayem to relinquish day-to-day running of sport Recent gaffes anger teams and owners Liberty Media
Mohammed Ben Sulayem, the embattled president of the FIA, motorsport’s world governing body, has relinquished day-to-day control of Formula One. But there remains scepticism within the F1 paddock regarding his reasons for the surprise move and his commitment to staying in the background.
The 61-year-old Emirati took over from Jean Todt in December 2021 weeks after one of the most contentious episodes in recent F1 history, when Max Verstappen was awarded the 2021 drivers’ title at the expense of Lewis Hamilton. His decision to step back follows fresh controversy in recent weeks at the helm.
Ben Sulayem wrote separately to team principals and to Stefano Domenicali, the sport’s chief executive, outlining his intention to take a more hands-off role, with Nikolas Tombazis, the FIA’S director of single-seater racing, now their “day-to-day” point of contact.
“My stated objective was to be a non-executive president via the recruitment of a team of professional managers, which has now been largely completed,” he wrote. “Therefore, going forward, your day-to-day contact for all matters on F1 will be with Nikolas and his team, while I will focus on strategic matters with my leadership team.”
A number of sources within the sport have told Telegraph Sport that they are sceptical regarding Ben Sulayem’s reasons for stepping back, with one saying he had effectively “jumped before he was pushed” following a series of recent gaffes that angered both F1 and the sport’s owners, Liberty Media.
First Ben Sulayem publicly welcomed a bid from Andretticadillac to enter the sport, which upset F1’s top brass, who were lukewarm on the proposed team.
He was then accused of “unacceptable” interference in response to a series of tweets in which he said a £16.2billion valuation of the sport was “inflated”.
Ben Sulayem was told that the FIA could be “liable” for harming the value of F1.
In a sign that knives were being sharpened, a number of embarrassing remarks that Ben Sulayem made more than 20 years ago were leaked into the public domain.
Ben Sulayem was quoted on an archived version of his former website saying that he did “not like women who think they are smarter than men”. The FIA said the sexist remarks did not reflect his current beliefs.
In a statement yesterday, the FIA insisted that Ben Sulayem’s decision had been a long time coming, and followed a restructuring of the organisation after he assumed the presidency.
“The president’s manifesto clearly set out this plan before he was elected – it pledged ‘the appointment of an FIA CEO to provide an integrated and aligned operation’, as well as to ‘introduce a revised governance framework’ under ‘a leadership team focused on transparency, democracy and growth’,” an FIA spokesperson said.
“These goals, as well as the announcement of the new structure of the single-seater department, have been planned since the beginning of this presidency.
“The FIA president has a wide remit that covers the breadth of global motor sport and mobility, and now that the structural reorganisation in Formula One is complete this is a natural next step.”
The new F1 season begins in Bahrain on March 5, with all eyes on whether the FIA will enforce a new rule that prevents drivers from making “political, religious or personal” comments without prior approval.
Speaking at Williams’s launch this week, Alex Albon said that drivers were “concerned” by the FIA’S ruling.
In a sign of the current tension between the FIA and F1, Domenicali made clear this week that F1 did not back the FIA’S stance.
“F1 will never put a gag on anyone,” Domenicali insisted. “Everyone wants to talk, so to have the platform to say what they want in the right way the better it is.
“I believe the FIA will clarify what has been stated.”