Last Updated on December 14 2023, 10:43 am

The first FIA president for over half a century who is not from a Formula One background is taking some heat at present but unlike his predecessor, Mohamed Ben Sulayem appears up for the fight. The recent spat between the Wolff’s and the FIA served only to reveal there is a concerted effort amongst senior F1 figures to discredit and even potentially remove the president of their sport’s governing body.

Clearly Liberty Media, fronted up by Stefano Domenicali, is upset with Ben Sulayem for a number of reasons most recently because of the headache they now face over how to handle the Andretti F1 team. The FIA conducted a “rigorous” process and decided the American bid to be the eleventh team on the grid was worthy, clearly upsetting most of the teams and FOM too.

 

 

 

Ben Sulayem claims he inherits FIA problems

It now seems Ben Sulayem has also annoyed his predecessor Jean Todt, who has come out swinging in an interview he gave to L’Equipe. The current president made comments on taking office that he needed to improve the finances of the motorsport’s governing body and commented negatively on an ongoing legal case being made against the FIA for breach of patent.

Now some two years on Jean Todt has spoken about the allegations made against his leadership but the timing of the interview adds to the impression there is a plot to bring down Mohammed Ben Sulayem.

Ben Sulayem had claimed the first order of business when he took office was to deal with a €20m deficit left behind, but Todt now refutes this stating the FIA reserves were around six times more healthy than when he took office.

“When I left, there must have been more than €250 million in reserves,” Todt told L’Equipe.

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Todt responds

“When I arrived in 2009, there were barely €40m, although the FIA had just ceded the commercial rights to F1 for a hundred years a few years earlier.

“I don’t call it a deficit. When I left, the budget had been multiplied by almost three, with many new competitions and sources of income, such as Formula E, the World Endurance Championship or the Rally Raid Championship.”

The deficit as such was a short term gap between the annual funding and expenditure of a number of global racing series, as Todt explained.

The Frenchman does concede the patent dispute over the halo was outstanding when he left office, but argues this was more due to the thing of the legal process, rather than neglect.

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Patent dispute over halo outstanding

“It is true that we left one dispute unfinished when I left, the Halo trial,” Todt admits.

“But it wasn’t swept under the rug. It was well documented and monitored by our services; we presented it to the senate and the world council before I left, and the current president attended this presentation.

“This was a lawsuit brought in Texas by an engineer who owned a patent that was only valid in the United States and for a short time. So when I left, there was nothing secret. And only one ongoing case, that one.”

Todt then aims his first swipe at his successor when he claims he half expected there to be a drama made out of the state of the finances and the outstanding legal claim.

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Todt takes aim at Ben Sulayem

“I wasn’t surprised, I knew who my successor was. I know the character,” Jean Todt reveals together with the fact he is not concerned by Ben Sulayem’s criticism of his leadership.

“No, it doesn’t matter to me,” he said. “And then it’s smoke. I start from the principle that when one chapter closes, another opens and we do not allow ourselves to attack its predecessor. Whether leaving Peugeot, Ferrari or the FIA, I never said a bad word. There is no point in launching into allegations, especially when they are false.

Todt in fact believes under his presidency he restored some of the lost power the FIA had suffered under various deals between his predecessor Max Mosley and Bernie Ecclestone. 

“It was under my presidency that the Hundred Year Agreement and Concorde Agreements between the FIA and F1 were renegotiated before Liberty Media became the owner of FOM [Formula One Management].

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Todt saves Ferrari

“Without going into detail, I can tell you that the income received by the Federation has very clearly increased compared to before. And its position in the governance of F1 has also been restored. It now has a third of the votes, along with FOM and the teams. It’s night and day with previous agreements.

“You can’t stop someone from criticising or disagreeing. But everything I have done during my presidency has always been approved by the senate and the world councils,” Todt concludes.

Jean Todt was the ‘saviour’ of Ferrari back in the 1990’s as he built a team of successful individuals around him to propel Michael Schumacher to five consecutive world titles and Ferrari to six construction titles. 

Since he left the team some 17 years ago, the Scuderia have won just one F1 title as Kimi Räikkönen pipped the warring McLaren pair to the drivers’ championship in 2007.

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FIA Leadership style changes

As president of the FIA, Todt was mostly anonymous delegating much of the organisations relationship with F1 to Charlie Whiting. The now departed Whiting wrote regulations, dealt with all matters of safety and headed up the various technical working groups inside the FIA.

Ben Sulayem approach to leadership could hardly be more different from Todt’s delegated model and it is this hands on management style that has upset a wide range of people in F1.

“Everything that was put in place during my mandate was turned upside down,” Todt concluded.

Yet Ben Sulayem won the FIA members vote conclusively with some 60% in favour of him becoming the new president. The electorate clearly identified with Ben Sulayem’s ‘non F1 candidacy’ and his promises to return power to the member organisations who felt disenfranchised by the Formula One agenda.

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Ben Sulayem to negotiate the 2026 Concorde Agreement

The backlash from Formula One has indeed begun, yet in some ways Ben Sulayem is taking on the legacy of his predecessor in that he is bringing the FIA back to front and centre and pushing back against the commercial rights holders desire to call all the shots.

The sour nature of FOM’s response to the FIA announcing alone the finalised 2023 F1 calendar – something which traditionally had been done as a joint affair – demonstrates the level of pettiness to which this ‘battle for power’ has descended.

Ben Sulayem has two more years of his term to serve before the next election which unlike for Todt who was re-elected unopposed, will surely see an F1 candidate stood up to challenge the current FIA president.

However, this will be too late for the negotiations around the 2026 Concorde Agreement, in which Ben Sulayem will have a significant say on how the future relationship between the FIA, the teams and FOM is managed.

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