“We Need to Change Our Approach”: FIA President Makes Strong Resolve in Manoeuvring F1

Mohammed Ben Sulayem was voted into his current position as president of the Federation International Automobile (FIA) one week after Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in 2021. Since then, he has had enormous tasks in his hands and is leaving no stone unturned in order to address issues. On the eve of the 2022 Monaco Grand Prix, the website GrandPrix247 sat down with Ben Sulayem and asked about his thoughts on a variety of topics, including F1.

The FIA is not old and is constantly updating itself

One particular topic that the president went heavily into was how the FIA had to be modern and dynamic in response to the challenges. He talked about how his organization is trying to orient itself and keep up with modern times. 

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Ben Sulayem touched on the topic of the FIA being old. Many believe that the FIA is old. However, the president doesn’t believe this to be the case. Sulayem feels that while his organization has been around for a long time, much like Formula 1, the FIA has to keep innovating and updating itself. He said, “One of the things that the research showed is that FIA is “old”. 

“When you say ‘old’, of course it is ‘old’ with 117 years of existence. But not old in personnel, ‘old’ in thinking. We can’t be ‘old’ in a dynamic sport. Look at all this technology, you have to keep up with it and to upgrade all the time.”

FIA President on F1 Race Directors

Post Abu Dhabi 2021 and the controversy surrounding it, there were calls for change within the FIA. When asked if anything such was required, Ben Sulayem resounded with a yes.

He continued, “Yes, we need to change our approach to motorsport. For example, I would like to see it even if something happens; what if I decide tomorrow to retire or if I don’t want to be the person in charge….”.

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“The sport must continue without missing me. Look at the stewards, F1 is challenging. It is the pinnacle of the sport and the pinnacle of technology, and then we have to look for race directors. GPDA told me about the situation regarding the race directors.” 

Touching on the topic of Formula 1 Race Directors, Sulayem stressed that there was no overnight decision. The difficulty is that personnel have to be raised and then train. Hence he went with the old structure in Rallying and introduced two race directors on rotation. He also added that they are training additional staff with the help of virtual FIA race control.

He concluded that with the virtual control, the FIA stewards have a backup and they are now trained better.