FIA president Ben Sulayem steps back from F1 operations

FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem, head of motorsport’s governing body, has stepped back from overseeing Formula One in a day-to-day capacity.

Ben Sulayem was elected on a manifesto which included the restructure of race control and the FIA’s F1 operation as a whole.

FIA single-seater boss Nikolas Tombazis will take over that portion of Ben Sulayem’s role, a decision communicated to the teams on Monday, meaning the former Ferrari man will be their main point of contact going forward.

The timing of the decision is curious, with Ben Sulayem increasingly finding himself at odds with F1 and its 10 teams since taking over 12 months ago.

The FIA insists the president’s decision has been in the pipeline for some time, pointing to the appointment of Natalie Robyn as its first-ever CEO last year.

Ben Sulayem will remain involved in strategic F1 matters and top-level decision making.

There were numerous conflict points between F1 and Ben Sulayem last year, including the FIA’s push to ban drivers from wearing jewelry during races and their delay over confirming the expansion from three to six sprint races per season.

Tensions have continued to boil over during F1’s off-season in December and January. F1 boss Stefano Domenicali this week moved to clarify the FIA’s recent clampdown on policitcal protest, announced by the governing body at the end of 2022, saying “F1 will never put a gag on anyone”. Drivers have also expressed concern over the FIA ruling.

Last month F1 wrote a scathing letter to the president after he commented on the value of F1 following a Bloomberg report of a $20 billion bid from the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund (PIF), which Ben Sulayem said was an “inflated price tag”.

Ben Sulayem and F1 also appeared to disagree over Andretti’s proposed entry with Cadillac, which was reported again in early January. Ben Sulayem tweeted that he had been surprised by the “adverse reaction” to the bid, with a large majority of F1’s 10 teams opposed to diluting F1’s current revenues with another stakeholder.

The FIA was also forced to issue a statement defending Ben Sulayem last week after sexist comments from his old website surfaced from two decades ago.

A report in The Times quoted him as saying he did not like “women who think they are smarter than men, for they are not in truth”, which appeared in a website which can no longer be read online.

The FIA statement said: “The remarks in this archived website from 2001 do not reflect the president’s beliefs. He has a strong record on promoting women and equality in sport, which he is happy to be judged on.

“It was a central part of his manifesto and actions taken this year and the many years he served as vice-president for sport prove this.”