A jewelry ban, the dismissal of race director Masi and its own race calendar. Everything changed under Ben Sulayem. Almost immediately after taking office, the president got involved in matters that his predecessor Jean Todt remained far from.
At the beginning of this year, he suddenly decided to strictly enforce the ban on wearing jewelry in cars, which was tucked away in the rulebook. He annoyed seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton, who was forced to remove his piercings. That did little to Ben Sulayem. He held his ground and eventually Hamilton gave in. The riot was in line with how Dubai-born Ben Sulayem manifests himself in his position; as someone who is not on the FIA throne to quietly stick to the plush.
How different did his predecessor Jean Todt, who was praised for his work in the background. Todt mainly ran his FIA from the offices in Paris, handling typical FIA issues such as safety and regulatory issues. He presented himself as the calm intermediary and thus gave Formula 1 a certain peace.
Fourteen times Middle East Rally Champion
One of the few times Todt made the news in his 12 years as FIA president was a day after the 2015 Paris terror attacks, which killed more than 130 people. He emphasized in a TV interview that there are really thirty times more road deaths every day and therefore wanted to make only limited adjustments to the already planned minute of silence for all those road deaths at the approaching Brazilian Grand Prix. The unworldly remark drew a storm of criticism from the FIA.
Ben Sulayem, 60, was born in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, into a wealthy and influential family. For example, his father was an advisor to the ruling Maktoum family. His brother Sultan Ahmed is a prominent businessman.
Like his brother, Ben Sulayem studied in the US. But early on he was attracted to racing, especially rallying. He became one of the most successful Arab drivers ever. Between 1986 and 2002 he became Middle East rally champion fourteen times.
After his active career he threw himself into the administrative side of racing. He then steadily worked his way up the motorsport pyramid. He became boss of the Emirates Motorsport Federation, then got top jobs within the FIA and last December he was the first non-European to be elected FIA president.
Organization less viscous and dusty
He immediately got a headache file on his plate: the handling of the previous season, where a dubious decision by race director Michael Masi in the final race in Abu Dhabi led to Max Verstappen’s world title.
Ben Sulayem showed decisiveness; within two months he fired Masi. “I don’t run away from responsibility,” he said in an interview with race site in June Grandprix247. He then appointed a CEO for the first time in FIA history to make the organization less viscous and dusty. At races he liked to show himself between the drivers on podiums.
His decisiveness also leads to resentment. In September, the FIA published the race calendar for 2023 on its own, while that moment is normally closely coordinated with the teams and F1 rights holder FOM. In addition, Ben Sulayem said that the good mix of circuits in his opinion was due to the ‘sound management of the sport by the FIA’, while in fact it is the FOM that is responsible.
With this, Ben Sulayem poked at the delicate balance between the FIA, FOM and the teams in the premier class. That complex relationship goes back to the 1970s, when shrewd businessman and team owner Bernie Ecclestone was the first to see the enormous potential of Formula 1 as a TV sport.
Ecclestone mobilized the racing stables against the then all-powerful, but amateurishly run FIA. The many quarrels, threats and consultations resulted in the ‘constitution’ of Formula 1; the Concorde agreement. In it, the three parties made agreements about how the sport is run and the money is divided.
Review contract
That is now a huge amount. Last year, Formula 1 recorded a turnover of more than 2 billion euros. The FIA hardly shares in the profit; As a regulator, the federation only oversees the championship and, as a non-profit organization, is heading for a million shortfall this year.
It is not clear whether Ben Sulayem wants more recognition, and therefore more money, by more emphatically profiling his federation as a crucial F1 pawn. It is clear that Formula 1 has to get used to an omnipresent FIA chairman who does not shy away from confrontations.
No doubt Formula 1 boss Stefano Domenicali will occasionally yearn for the invisible Todt. At the same time, he knows that he will be tied to the FIA for almost a century. This has to do with the mega deal that was concluded in 2001 between Ecclestone and former FIA boss Max Mosley. It was agreed that the FIA would ‘lent’ the commercial rights of the class to the FOM until the year 2110.
Given the pace at which the relationship between the FIA and FOM has changed in just under a year, it cannot be ruled out that the first lawyers have now been called in to go through that bulky contract again. Who knows, there might be a way out somewhere that could come in handy if we ever need to set up our own racing class.
Three times Mohammed Ben Sulayem
Mohammed Ben Sulayem is an avid car collector. The value of his unique sports car collection is close to 100 million euros and is full of extremely rare Mercedes, Ferraris and McLarens.
In 2008, Ben Sulayem became the first sports director from the Arab world to gain a seat on the World Motor Sport Council, the influential FIA regulatory body. He was also a driving force behind the F1 race in Abu Dhabi, which has been on the calendar since 2009.
In June, Ben Sulayem caused a stir with statements he made about socially engaged drivers such as Sebastian Vettel, Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norri. According to him, they forced their beliefs on others through sports. He later retracted those statements via Twitter.