Fia President Mohammed Ben Sulayem Breaks Silence on Saudi Arabian GP Favoritism Rumors

Mohammed Ben Sulayem ended his 2023 season with a controversy and began the 2024 F1 season embroiled in more. The FIA President’s 2023 winter break investigation into Susie Wolff uglily backfired, with the F1 Academy MD filing a ‘criminal complaint’ against them. Moreover, in 2024, a whistleblower accused Ben Sulayem of tampering with the 2023 Saudi Arabian GP outcome and attempting to cancel the Las Vegas GP. While the Emirati is still facing the music over Susie Wolff’s legal case, the FIA cleared him of any wrongdoing in the latter matters.

As per the accuser, at the 2023 Saudi Arabian GP, Ben Sulayem intervened to overturn a penalty given to Fernando Alonso. Responding to this, he claimed that someone was trying to “destabilize” his position as the FIA president. Soon after, the FIA Ethics Committee cleared Ben Sulayem of any wrongdoing in this matter. A similar verdict was made for the Las Vegas GP, with no further action taken against him.

At the Chinese GP last weekend, Ben Sulayem finally spoke for the first time since being cleared. “I would have liked the charges against me to remain only accusations, instead, I was directly convicted by the court of public opinion,” he said, as quoted by Gazzetta. “I have nothing to hide. I’m proud of the work I’ve accomplished.” The Emirati also claimed that he was aware of who his accuser was. “I know who’s behind all this, but I can’t say,” he added.

If Ben Sulayem chooses to take action against his accuser, the FIA could have more problems on its hands. Apart from these cases, FIA’s relationship with Formula One Management (FOM) was also rumored to be deteriorating. The FIA President addressed this matter in China as well.

Mohammed Ben Sulayem weighs in on FIA’s friction with FOM

Mohammed Ben Sulayem and FIA have been involved in a series of controversies since he became president. Alleged misogynistic comments and receiving a “cease-and-desist” letter from F1’s lawyers for his reaction to a social media post about a Saudi Arabian Fund buying F1 are a couple of examples of those controversies.

After such problems, he distanced himself from the day-to-day activities of F1. Ahead of the Chinese GP last weekend, he cleared the air over any friction between F1 and the FIA. “FOM is our partner,” said Ben Sulayem. “I don’t have any problems. I just want to continue doing business with them. I can stand tall and look you in the eyes and say I am a sportsman and I play by the rules,” he said.

F1 has had enough controversies in 2024 to overshadow the sporting side. Fans, and Ben Sulayem himself, can only hope for the ongoing cases to be fairly and immediately settled so F1 can solely focus on racing peacefully again.