Mohammed Ben Sulayem should step down from his position as FIA president, according to Express Sport readers. The Emirati official has been wrapped up in a slew of controversies over the past 12 months, and seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton recently stated his lack of support for him.
Ben Sulayem has been the acting FIA president since the end of the 2021 season, taking over from the long-serving Jean Todt following the conclusion of the controversial Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Since then, he has faced plenty of scrutiny with several issues reaching the headlines in recent months.
The debate surrounding his future has returned to the forefront of F1 discourse following the conclusion of an internal investigation from the FIA’s ethics committee, which assessed reports from the BBC that claimed Ben Sulayem had attempted to influence the race result of the 2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix and to deny the Las Vegas circuit official certification.
Ben Sulayem was cleared of any wrongdoing relating to the claims laid out in the whistleblower reports, but the speculation has only added further uncertainty to his position. The next FIA presidential elections are not scheduled to take place until 2025, however.
In a survey of 3,878 Express Sport readers, 68 per cent believed that Ben Sulayem should quit his post as FIA president given the recent controversies and his lack of support from some sections of the paddock. Only 32 per cent of those surveyed believed that the 62-year-old is still the right man for the job.
One key figure who agrees with that 68 per cent chunk is Hamilton, who publicly proclaimed his lack of support for Ben Sulayem. Ahead of the Australian Grand Prix, he was asked whether or not he still had the Mercedes star’s support, to which he responded bluntly: “[He] never has.”
Hamilton’s latest frustrations with Ben Sulayem are fuelled by his distaste for the handling of an investigation into Susie Wolff, who is the director of the F1 Academy project that the Mercedes star has profoundly supported, and the partner of his team principal, Toto Wolff.
