Formula 1 is heavily political and, as such, isn’t immune to the many issues that brings. But when Mohammed Ben Sulayem took over the FIA presidency from Jean Todt in late 2021, no one could have predicted the obstinate mess that lay ahead.
After another chaotic, disorganised race weekend (1st-2nd of December), international press descended on the FIA president again to criticise his actions.
We’ve seen this in the past. Jean-Marie Balestre (1921-2008) was FIA president from 1985 to 1993 and… well, let’s just say he was notoriously all over the place. Now after years of relative stability under Todt, the sport has another problem on its hands.
Swearing and Sedition in the World of F1
Just so you’re aware, the FIA is the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile. It’s an international organisation with a:
- Mobility division for road car usage.
- Sporting division to regulate international motorsport events.
Naturally, F1 is at the top of that list. But F1 itself is owned by Liberty Media who hold the commercial rights and run that side of things. Consider them two separate entities—the FIA handles race management, F1 regulates sales and commercial developments.
The idea is for the two to work in beautiful, harmonic tandem.
That isn’t happening right now. Just take a look at some of these headlines in major publications over the last week:
- FIA’s bloodbath under Mohammed Ben Sulayem
- Formula 1 is being hurt by Mohammed Ben Sulayem’s stubborness
- Concerned F1 drivers told FIA turmoil is none of their business by Mohammed Ben Sulayem
- How a chaotic Qatar Grand Prix is a symbol of much deeper FIA turmoil within F1
- F1 drivers told to mind their own business and focus on racing by FIA president
- FIA dissenters are growing louder as Mohammed Ben Sulayem’s firing spree goes on
- F1’s lead steward ‘sacked’ by FIA boss – just weeks after race director dismissed
- FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem hits back at GDPA’s letter calling for F1 drivers to be treated like adults
- George Russell leads drivers’ criticism of Mohammed Ben Sulayem as more key figures depart FIA
- F1 drivers call out FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem in response to swearing saga ahead of Las Vegas GP
It’s been like this for the last few years now. Ben Sulayem appears stubborn and old-fashioned, at the start of the 2022 season suddenly enforcing archaic rules and shaking up proceedings at race weeks.
There have been a series of issues, though, such as at Monaco in 2022 when the FIA’s stewarding team and race directors made a complete hash of starting the race. There was a huge delay before the start (due to rain), with zero communication to the waiting world about when the race would begin.
That’s just one of many instances, one of the main ones being the wildly inconsistent stewarding decisions. It’s been baffling to watch and everyone seems annoyed… except for Ben Sulayem.
Well, until the last few weeks.
Everything has reached a boiling point towards the end of the 2024 season, with relations between F1, the drivers, and teams towards the FIA heavily strained.
Max Verstappen’s Expletives
This mess came about when Max Verstappen was penalised for swearing. That was during a race—chosen driver radio broadcasts are played to viewers with the swearing bleeped out.
F1 drivers rallied behind Verstappen to defend him, with the fine being a lot of community service.
Most people have found this completely ridiculous, really, on a unified front. Everyone except for Ben Sulayem who seems hellbent to pursue this matter in the most draconian fashion.
Bear in mind, these drivers are often doing 200mph centimetres away from walls and others cars. It’s high-stress stuff and, with adrenaline pumping, it’s no surprise the odd f bomb is dropped.
The idea they should also be watching their language whilst racing is ludicrous.
Then Charles Leclerc got slammed for swearing, leading the GDPA (Grand Prix Drivers Association) to issue a letter of appeal to the FIA calling for them to be treated like adults. This was promptly ignored by the FIA until the Qatar weekend, during which Muhammed Ben Sulayem finally addressed it by essentially waving off the issue.
Then There Was Qatar
And then at Qatar there were a series of bizarre screw ups from the FIA, triggered by Ben Sulayem sacking key individuals shortly before another race weekend.
The lack of experience of the new race director showed, delaying a safety car deployment that created a dangerous on-track situation. One that then inadvertently ruined the races of Sir Lewis Hamilton, Carlos Sainz, and Lando Norris. The application of a penalty to Norris was also bizarre, heavily penalised for a yellow flag infringement (despite barely having a single second to react to seeing it).
All of this is making F1 look a bit stupid.
Not great, especially given the sport is currently enjoying its highest ever level of popularity. Despite a slow start, 2024 has ended up being a great season with four teams battling it out for regular victories—something not really seen before in F1.
It bodes very well for a classic 2025 season, but… with the big caveat of whether the FIA can sort its internal act out ahead of the season starting in March. Pressure is on Ben Sulayem, but right now it appears he has no interest in acknowledging it.
James Hunt’s Verdict From Beyond the Grave
Not swearing during live broadcasts has usually been a thing. Especially on the BBC during the Conservative Thatcherism years of the ’80s, which is why the presence of James Hunt often threw a spanner in the works.
Whenever not stoned or half drunk on air (he once broke his legs after a bout of drunk skiing), viewers could rely on Hunt to throw in the occasional obscenity.
He says “bullshit” above in a muffled way, but cripes almighty that was enough to get you executed in Blighty back then. Daring stuff, but an incident largely brushed under the carpet by the BBC (until the internet went and dug it up again).
We should note, too, that F1 thrives off controversy and odd stuff like this.
We’ve often summed up the sport like this:
- The business element, which everyone bickers and argues about regarding money and power.
- The occasional race, which everyone then bickers and argues about due to something happening on track.
It’s just this endless bickering and power struggle. It’s one of the many reasons why we find the sport infinitely fascinating, but we appreciate for other viewers new to the sport (and often the drivers) it can be off-putting.
Ben Sulayem’s antics bring a rather 1980s feel to proceedings. Again, this is all nothing new—see the clip from the 2010 documentary Senna. Here we see former FIA president Jean-Marie Balestre being obstinate.
Ayrton Senna found the political element so galling he very nearly quit F1. Many other F1 drivers, after leaving the sport, have regularly commented how much they hated all the “bullshit” politics that flies around.
If you can stomach all of that, Formula 1 is an endlessly fascinating arena of turmoil and power struggles. Just be prepared for baffling decisions, frustrations, and confusion along the way.
As, comically, the sport does sometimes have this habit of not understanding what it’s doing.
