Mohammed Ben Sulayem responds to FIA ‘reign of terror’ accusations

Mohammed Ben Sulayem has responded to comments made by election rival Tim Mayer on the nature of his FIA Presidency.

Ben Sulayem has held office since December 2021 and is seeking reelection later this year, with his only confirmed rival currently being former FIA chairman of the stewards Tim Mayer.

Mohammed Ben Sulayem ‘doesn’t read’ personal attacks

On Friday at the British Grand Prix, Mayer, the son of former McLaren boss Teddy, confirmed his intention to stand in this year’s election, which will be held amongst the FIA members on December 12th.

In his campaign launch speech, Mayer hit out at Ben Sulayem as the incumbent, accusing the Emirati of having created illusions of progress, inclusion, leadership, transparency, and a financial turnaround.

With several high-ranking officials being axed or resigning from their roles during Ben Sulayem’s tenure, Mayer said, “If you look at the number of people who have resigned from the FIA who have gone in with the best intentions but cannot effect change, or say ‘No this is a bad idea, Mr President’.

“It is a reign of terror. You are wondering when the next scandal is.”

Elaborating further during an exclusive interview with PlanetF1.com, Mayer said that Ben Sulayem’s reign has not been based on democracy, but on “tyranny.”

Mayer’s comments were put to Ben Sulayem during a round-table media session at Silverstone, to which the Emirati smiled upon hearing.

“Some people say that I evolved a thick skin; that the media doesn’t affect me. Someone said, ‘You have Teflon skin’,” he told select media, including PlanetF1.com.

“Actually, no, I just don’t read [it]. I’m sorry, I don’t believe that I have the time. So it doesn’t affect me, because I don’t know about it. I don’t read. I read the important things, not the personal attack.”

As the former chairman of the stewards, Mayer’s time with the FIA came to an end in the closing stages of the F1 2024 season after the American said he was asked to step down as an F1 steward after Ben Sulayem objected to his role in an appeal filed by the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, in relation to an FIA fine.

Mayer has denied his campaign has been launched out of retaliation, and PlanetF1.com asked Ben Sulayem whether he suspects retaliation is a motivation.

“What was done was purely between him and the system of the FIA. I do not get involved in these matters,” he said.

“I get so many phone calls from teams when someone has a protest; the first person to call is me, so I said to myself, ‘Do not answer’.

“Once you don’t answer, the person who’s calling will get upset. In a few days, it fades off.

“But, if you answer and get part of that issue, you will only escalate it, and then you will make someone happy and someone unhappy, but is it the right thing to do? No.

“We train our stewards. We are proud of them. We put them there. We give them the power to decide. And, if there is any issue, the teams have the right to protest it, have the right to take it to the International Court of Appeal. So our system… is it perfect?

“Every system can be improved. So, for me, if there is anything between him and the people who took care of that matter, it is them, and, if he has anything, he can raise it to the International Court of Appeal, which is higher than that.

“But I don’t look into these small things. The FIA is bigger than me, bigger than anyone.

“In a campaign, you can say anything, and then it’s up to them.

“But for me, I’m not going to defend something the first time I hear about it; anyone can go and check with them, and if they say it’s up to them to say.

“I feel for people [who] say this. They are disconnected from the FIA. He has worked as a steward. A steward doesn’t mean you’re an insider of the FIA, a steward; you’re not staff.

“The FIA has a different way of working. The FIA works for the members and to promote the sport; they don’t work, as before, just for the promoter.

“If we want to grow motorsport, we have to go back to the members and listen to them and see what they want. We’ll have to listen to them, they’re the ones that make the FIA, they’re the biggest and strongest body.

“If I go and defend myself…I have other things to do! I am really busy. I am not going to fall into this way of campaigning where I answer someone. He is free to say whatever he wants. We say in our culture, in Arabic, ‘A tongue has no bones’.”

Mohammed Ben Sulayem: General Assembly can vote me out if they want

The vote on the next FIA Presidency will be held at the General Assembly in Uzbekistan on December 12th, and Ben Sulayem has already had strong indications of support from member clubs across the Middle East and North Africa, as well as the Americas.

As the incumbent, Ben Sulayem’s momentum means Mayer faces a steep uphill challenge in just five months if he wishes to challenge this position; a compressed schedule awaits, as the American is yet to announce his full manifesto or the Presidential ‘list’ that identifies his proposed members of cabinet.

Asked about where his own campaign is at, Ben Sulayem said that he’s “busy with much more important things”.

“For me, it is just achieving what I started to do. If you ask me what my main challenge is today, it’s finalising the Concorde Agreement. That, to me, is the main thing,” he said.

“The campaign, yes, it goes on, that is one of our major democracies that everybody can enter, actually different than FIFA and the IOC. But for me, it’s about working with FOM. I believe that, after three and a half years now, we understand each other more than before. Things are going in the right track.

“I can feel now it [Concorde] is coming to a better deal than before. The FIA deserves to have a better deal because we have a lot of responsibilities.”

With Ben Sulayem stretched across these duties and efforts, it was put to him that, should his eye not remain on the ball, he could find himself usurped by Mayer’s more single-minded efforts.

“It is a race. I’ve been in competition with this,” he said.

“I know that whatever I’ve been doing is good for the members. I’ve been very straight with them. We did the transformation. If other people think that we didn’t, it is their call.

“Also, maybe they see it in a different way. If they think what I’m doing is wrong, it’s an open arena. Let them go and do it. I cannot stop [them], and I will not stop, and I wish everybody well.

“Three and a half years ago, the same thing happened for me, and it was very hard for me. I know how difficult the campaign is with people promising all this, but you also have to trust what you have been doing.

“Was it good for the FIA? Where was the FIA before? Where is it now? To reach the people and get their trust is something… it’s not about sending an email. It’s feeling them. It’s talking to them, and that, for sure, takes time.

“I really wish him all the best, and if he is a better person, the members will vote for him.

“[The campaign] is coming for the members. It’s not about the media, what they say about me.

“With all respect, you [the media] are always there for Formula 1 and the sport, but at the end of the day, one thing is very clear. It is the members who vote. It’s not anyone who is here to have a vote. It’s them. If they decide they want me or they want X, Y, Z, it’s up to them. I wish them all the best.

“Let’s wait for the General Assembly, and let’s see, they will get me out, then. They have the power to get me out. It’s about the members. And when I see this. Smiling. Maybe, I don’t know, maybe they’re smiling, truly or not, but it’s their decision.”

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