President Mohammed Ben Sulayem is set to take a step back from everyday operations of Formula One.
Sulayem’s plans following 2021
After Sulayem was elected FIA President in December of 2021 with a restructuring plan for the FIA’s F1 operations, it is said he will be handing the responsibility to the director of single seated racing Nikolas Tombazis and put his focus more on the strategic matters within the FIA.
The 61-year-old made regular appearances at many of the F1 Races in the 2022 season and over the recent season has become a prominent member of the paddock. The controversies surrounding the FIA’s relationship with F1 began to rise to the surface over the season. The recent news of the Andretti Cadillac in which Sulayem was a huge supporter of and his controversial tweets regarding the valuation of Formula 1, which prompted a very stern response from Liberty Media.
Sulayem sent a letter to the 10 F1 teams currently on the grid to announce his step back from the F1 operations. The letter goes on to state, cited from Motorsport Week:
“My stated objective was to be a non-executive president via the recruitment of a team of professional managers, which has now been largely completed,”
“Therefore, going forward, your day-to-day contact for all matters on F1 will be with Nikolas and his team, while I will focus on strategic matters with my leadership team.”
A statement from the FIA was also release according to Skysports:
“The president’s manifesto clearly set out this plan before he was elected – it pledged “the appointment of an FIA CEO to provide an integrated and aligned operation,” as well as to “introduce a revised governance framework” under “a leadership team focused on transparency, democracy, and growth.”