“F1 must not become like WWE wrestling - without rules!”
The FIA president’s first big task at the start of the tenure was sorting out the fallout from the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix where Max Verstappen controversially edged Lewis Hamilton to the F1 title.
This year he has dealt with Red Bull breaking the F1 cost cap.
“Formula 1 - it is the pinnacle,” said Ben Sulayem. “Always you will find controversy in it. You will find the challenge, the teams are up to the limit there - they always want to find the way to go.
“So it is challenging, every hour is challenging them - and it’s healthy. It’s going so good. But you see us as the FIA, we should also be careful. There is the side of the money, but the governance has to be right also.
“You cannot just have it without the rules. You cannot have it without amending it, updating it. You would end up like the wrestling, you know, like [WWE], which has no governance!
“No, the governance has to be there.”
“I knew there must be a big challenge in the FIA, improving it, updating it to the new era now.
“It’s like a telephone you know - if you don’t update your telephone you will be behind. And definitely the teams, the technology, is going ahead and ahead and we will have to be not just up to that, but ahead of them.
“And the regulations, the finance, and the FIA inherited some of the issues from before and you cannot take decisions without going, digging in, and getting all the facts and then going further. One year has been changed. I’m not talking about Formula 1 - I’m talking as the FIA as a whole.”
Ben Sulayem has also had to deal with a lawsuit surrounding a patent for the F1 Halo design, and the confusion over the points awarded at the Japanese Grand Prix where Verstappen was crowned champion in a bizarre manner.
