F1 2022, ‘Lewis Hamilton will be at the start of the World Championship’ says the FIA ​​president

From our correspondent Paolo Ianieri

January 1st
– Ha & rsquo; Il (Saudi Arabia)

Mohammed Ben Sulayem could not miss the first of the Dakar. The new president of the FIA, originally from Dubai and with a past as a rally driver, is a great fan of the raid and today was his first public appearance, two weeks after his appointment as number 1 FIA as successor to Jean Todt. Ben Sulayem applauds Saudi Arabia (“I like to see the support they are giving to motorsport, F1 has also been a great success”), holds back on the possibility that the race will move to other countries, such as Abi Dhabi and Dubai (” It is the organizers of Aso who decide where to go, but there is an excellent relationship between us, I like their vision and I am convinced that also thanks to the Dakar the new World Rally Raid World Championship will be a great success “) and above all he talks about the World Championship F1 won by Max Verstappen on Lewis Hamilton amid a thousand controversies.

hamilton stays

–

“I was elected only two weeks ago and I am still studying what happened. F1 is a dynamic sport and we must be as well, active rather than reactive, the rules must be adapted. Regulations are not God’s book, they can be improved ”. He glosses over the possible punishment to Hamilton he spoke of after the election, noting: “I just sent him a message, I don’t think he’s 100% ready to talk about what happened yet, I understand his position. It is not a question of punishing a rider or a team, but of enforcing the rules, but I don’t want to make a decision without having studied the facts in depth ”. While he says he is absolutely calm about seeing the new Sir Lewis Hamilton at the wheel of the Mercedes W13 even in a few months in the 2022 World Championship: “Have you heard Lewis say he wants to retire? No. I am confident, very confident, that there will be, it is a fundamental part of our sport ”.