FIA President takes step away from F1 as tension boils over
Feb.9 - In the heat of obvious tension with the teams and Liberty Media, FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem has confirmed he is taking a step back.
In recent days and weeks, the new-in-2022 president of Formula 1's governing body has clashed with Liberty, the teams and drivers on a number of contentious issues.
But it seems one of the biggest issues was in fact the Dubai-born former rally driver's personality.
Nikos Tombazis, FIA Single Seater Technical Director
"At the FIA prize gala, he started talking on stage about when he was driving rallies and you could see Christian Horner and Max Verstappen thinking 'What the hell'," former F1 driver Christijan Albers told De Telegraaf.
"I especially had to laugh at Stefano Domenicali. His face spoke volumes."
Now, in a letter to the ten F1 teams, 61-year-old Ben Sulayem announced he is taking a step back into a less hands-on "non-executive president" role.
"Going forward, your day-to-day contact for all matters on F1 will be with Nikolas (Tombazis) and his team," he wrote, referring to the FIA's new single seater chief.
"I will focus on strategic matters with my leadership team," Ben Sulayem added.
When asked about the development by the German newspaper Bild, an FIA spokesperson said: "This plan was clearly set out in the president's manifesto before he was elected.
"The FIA president has a wide range of responsibilities that span the breadth of global motorsport and mobility and now that the structural reorganisation of Formula 1 is complete this is a natural next step."
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Well that’s a relief and pigs might fly.
Why is anyone surprised about Mohammed Ben Sulayem's autocratic management style? He was born and raised in an autocracy in the Middle East. He knows only how to be ruling class and be in charge without input from others!
The statement ""The FIA president has a wide range of responsibilities that span the breadth of global motorsport and mobility and now that the structural reorganisation of Formula 1 is complete this is a natural next step"" is pure propaganda!
Too little too late
The pigs ear is already in place and he has passed on the poison chalice to Mr Tombasis
Hope some sensibility returns to the FIA sooner than later
i doubt it will be a pork ear
You have to ask yourself who decided to bring this guy in as the FIA president he was never going to be ''fit for purpose'' Taking away the right of free speech with F1 personnel may work in his part of the world...
The FIA is responsible for this fiasco.
Who decided? thats easy, I may be wrong but wasn't the Bin man deputy to JT before he was elected president, its a bit like electing a government , then them making a complete hash of it, then blaming them
All the drivers and all you social media commentators have got it wrong.
There is no ban on making statements it is just that if the drivers feel the need to make a statement they need to run it past the FIA first. This makes sense as the FIA doesn't want a contoversial statement being made that overshadows the sport.
Hamilton saying nothing will stop him making a statement shows once again as with the jewellery ban when driving that he thinks he is bigger than the sport.
Example of a controversial statement what if a driver comes out and makes a statement that supports the Russian
invasion of Ukraine. Some of tbese drivers are not very smart and could say something really stupid and controversial off the cuff.