24 January 2023 , 16:38
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This is Mohammed ben Sulayem's world and we're all just living in it. At least, that's what the FIA president appears to believe.
Ben Sulayem has been in charge of motorsport's governing body for little over a year now and, to be fair, it has been a challenging time for him. He inherited the job in the immediate aftermath of the controversial climax to the 2021 Formula 1 title race, had a court case to deal with and a financial issue which needed urgent attention.
The major problem he now faces appear to be, in part at least, of his own making. To be specific, we're talking about the apparent collision course the FIA is on with F1 itself.
For those who don't follow the sport closely, these organisations are two separate entities. The FIA owns the championship and is its governing body, but the commercial rights to the sport itself are owned by Liberty Media and F1 has its own leadership – headed by chief executive Stefano Domenicali.
Two branches of power holding sway over the same sport is always going to come with some conflict. The FIA and F1 will never see eye to eye on every subject, that's only natural. So on many subjects they need to work together and communicate well to come up with solutions with the best interests of the sport in mind.
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The problem is, particularly since Ben Sulayem took office, that communication appears to have gone out of the window. There have been plenty of examples of animosity behind the scenes, such as the way the 2023 F1 race calendar was made public, but the most recent example came this week as the president, not for the first time, stuck his nose where it didn't belong.
Specifically, he publicly commented on the rumour that Saudi Arabia's PIF had considered a £16bn bid to buy F1 in 2022. In response to that claim, the FIA president suggested that figure is "inflated", explaining that if the sport was sold for that sort of price it would most likely see race hosting fees and ticket prices ramped up as a result.
Ben Sulayem leads the FIA, while Stefano Domenicali is chief executive of F1 itself (Getty Images)While he is probably correct, the problem is that he said anything at all. Frankly, the subject is none of the FIA's business. F1 is publicly listed and, by commenting on the value of the sport and suggesting – even if it wasn't his intention – that it isn't worth as much as the PIF was reportedly willing to pay for it, his words may have had serious financial consequences.
That's why F1's legal department sent a strongly-worded letter to Ben Sulayem on Tuesday, in which they essentially told the FIA chief to mind his own business.
"The FIA has given unequivocal undertakings that it will not do anything to prejudice the ownership, management and/or exploitation of those rights," F1's lawyers wrote. "We consider that those comments, made from the FIA President's official social media account, interfere with those rights in an unacceptable manner."
It is the latest example of Ben Sulayem appearing to take a contrary position to what those running the sport itself are thinking. Another recent one is the Andretti bid to join the grid – the FIA and its president have made it clear they are very interested, while most of the existing teams and, it seems, the sport's bosses themselves, are less enthusiastic.
FIA president Mohammed ben Sulayem is one of few people open to Andretti's F1 plans (Jenna Fryer/AP/REX/Shutterstock)In general, Ben Sulayem's popularity within the F1 paddock is not high. Members of several different teams have, when speaking to Mirror Sport in recent times, described him as being difficult. More than one remarked that he comes across as egotistical and tries at every opportunity to make things about him.
One senior team member said they witnessed Ben Sulayem once publicly accusing someone of "disrespecting" him, because they did not refer to him as "Mr President". His bizarre on-stage behaviour at the FIA prize giving ceremony in December also lent weight to those descriptions of his main character syndrome.
Perhaps the president's apparent desire to publicly comment on everything is part of a plan to help rehabilitate the FIA's public image. It has taken a bit of a beating over the past 18 months – most notably over Michael Masi's handling of that 2021 title race finale, but last season also there were plenty of examples of inconsistencies in terms of decisions, which annoyed fans, drivers and teams.
They will never please everyone, but perhaps the best thing the FIA can do right now is to try to make as little noise as possible and simply perform its role in as low-profile a manner as possible over the coming season. Whether or not Ben Sulayem can keep his nose out of things for that long remains to be seen.
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