The president of the International Automobile Federation (FIA), Mohammed Ben Sulayem, resigns from managing Formula 1. The leader has decided to take a step back and leave the day-to-day management of the event with greater visibility within the federation.
He is also, by the way, the one that generates the most tension.
According to the Daily Mail, the president, a former rally driver from the United Arab Emirates, informed the teams this week of his decision to take a step back, in a maneuver that, regardless of the official version, seeks to lower the atmosphere of tension that has been installed in the offices during the last academic year.
In a year, Ben Sulayem has been able to get into more trouble than Jean Todt, his predecessor as FIA president, had to weather during the decade that he captained the body that regulates the largest four-wheel competition.
Since he took up the position in December 2021, the executive has had several clashes with Liberty Media, the holder of the commercial rights of the Formula 1 World Cup, and with the teams that participate in it.
After the news broke, the FIA was quick to say that this relocation was long overdue;
he defined it as a “natural step”.
From now on it will be Nikolas Tombazis, promoted to the position of technical manager of the single-seater area, who will be in charge of the management of F1 and the negotiations with Liberty Media.
The Greek engineer, formerly of Ferrari at the time when Fernando Alonso wore red (2010-2014), will receive the support of Steve Nielsen, who will act as sports director.
Every time he took a step, Ben Sulayem stepped into a puddle, positioning himself on the opposite side of the teams and the owner of the exploitation rights.
A few days ago, the legal area of Liberty Media sent him a letter accusing him of having deliberately and totally unacceptable overreach in his duties.
This reaction was motivated by a thread of messages posted by the president of the FIA, on his public Twitter profile, in which he warned of the possible consequences that the alleged sale of F1 to the Saudi Arabian Sovereign Fund (PIF) could have. before an alleged purchase offer of 20,000 million dollars (18,400 million euros).
This was the last fire generated by the Dubai businessman, but not the only one.
One of the most recent has to do with the process that should allow two other structures to compete in the World Cup from 2026, which did not sit well with the current formations.
At the same time, most of the grid was put to rest after the FIA announced the prohibition, through a modification of the International Sporting Code, of making any extra-sporting claim;
the majority defined it as an attack on freedom of expression.
As if that were not enough, some statements by Ben Sulayem recently appeared, dating back to 2001 and published on his own website, with an obvious macho bias: "Women who think they are smarter than men, in reality are not." ”.
You can follow EL PAÍS Deportes on
and
, or sign up here to receive
our weekly newsletter
.