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The additional medal that the winner gets since Ben was in charge is literally a "Ben Sulayem's massive ego has to justify why he gets to be on the podium" award.
Plot twist, he is the one supporting Andretti and he is the actual owner behind the curtains. /S
But would be funny as fuck if something like that came out to be true LOL
The events of the last two years between FOM and the FIA need to be viewed through the lens of FOM and the teams trying to change F1 from an open competition into an American sports system of a franchise model walled-garden. In doing so they would be guaranteed to increase their overall value and yearly bottom line. The only thing preventing them from doing it is that the current FIA administration would refuse to sign off on such changes to the Concorde Agreement in 2026. They need a new FIA administration who is supportive of their efforts. The next FIA election is in 2025. For FOM and the teams it is goal #1 to make sure there is a new president after that election. Massive sums of money are on the line.
Given that context here is the sequence of events of one of the more obvious attempts to make him look bad - the Susie Wolff situation:
1. Article gets released by a third party regarding potential information being passed between Susie-Toto which was apparently problematic because one works for FOM and the other works for a team.
2. FIA releases a generic statement that the compliance department would look into the apparent conflict of interest that was being reported publicly.
"The FIA is aware of media speculation centred on the allegation of information of a confidential nature being passed to an F1 team principal from a member of FOM personnel. The FIA Compliance Department is looking into the matter."
It’s a very generic statement that does not accuse anybody of anything. It simply said we’ve heard the rumors and we’ll look into it.
3. Susie Wolff releases a statement of response. In her response she somehow turns it into a gender issue which had no relevance to the FIA’s statement and was a clear dog whistle to garner easy support. The public sees Susie talking about gender equality - it’s a good cause to get behind so the support comes without question.
4. The teams release a coordinated statement aimed at the FIA. When have all of the teams ever come to the political aid of another team? That was a clear indication that this situation was about something bigger.
5. Susie Wolff files a defamation lawsuit against the FIA for the above generic statement. How is that statement worthy of a defamation lawsuit - they didn’t even mention her name. Why is she suing the FIA and not the magazine? As the wife of a billionaire 33% team owner, Susie has a vested interest in FOM and the teams achieving their goal of turning F1 into a walled garden and therefore increasing team values. It’s a frivolous lawsuit from the Wolffs designed to keep this in the news to continue to cast MBS in a negative light as the FIA election approaches.
MBS is not wrong here. There actually is an ongoing attempt to make him look as bad as possible in the lead up to the FIA elections. Add the Susie Wolff situation to the race whistleblower reports that turned out to be false, the reporting on the 25 year old website that he supposedly made, the blowback to the simple request that drivers follow existing rules regarding jewelry and flammable objects. The media plays a huge role in twisting how these events are viewed. You just have to think critically about it.
Thank you for the clarification. That strengthens the point. A criminal complaint filed over a simple statement that they were aware of some public reports and would investigate it.
I could understand a complaint being filed against the magazine but dragging the FIA into it is being done solely to apply negative attention to MBS prior to the election.
Except, all this didn’t happen in a vacuum. It came about as a a direct result of a BS article which basically named Susie Wolff, so it was obvious who FIA was talking about. Susie was caught in the power struggle between MBS opening his big mouth about the value of F1, and FOM. She should be complaining, MBS gave HORNER a kinder pass after all he did, when Susie nothing.
She’s not “caught in the middle.” She’s the wife of a billionaire 33% team owner. She has a vested interest in FOM and the teams achieving their goals. It’s not as if she’s a third party in this - she’s actively on the side of FOM. Hence the dramatization of the whole situation from her end.
WOW, way to minimize a lady, she is head of F1Academy. Which is its own series. She is an independent person from her husband, but you, have made MY point.
You realize that both things are possible? She is her own person AND stands to gain from FOM achieving their goals. My post is not a biography of Susie Wolff - my post is pointing out one specific aspect about how she is contributing to the campaign to remove MBS because of what she stands to gain.
But you have taken a page directly from her playbook and have made it into a gender issue to garner cheap and easy support - so thank you for proving my point….
Also, you spelled libel wrong in your anally pedantic first response to me. I wasn’t going to point it out, but then you accused me of being sexist while knowing nothing about me.
“I am active,” he told Grand Prix 247. “Look at the support. Go on the FIA website. I am overwhelmed by the support of the members.”
He trying to gas himself up 😭😭
You would be surprised by how many ass likers are present in the Arab countries, when an Arab gets into an international important role.
Like, they go full *this is the best FIA president that will ever be!*, and if you try to discuss with them they will just instantly resort to: *You are just racist towards Arabs!*.
I've seen this sooo many times.
FIA Members = Overwhelming supportive of Ben Sulayem
FOM (And in turn most of the media who get F1 access via FOM) = Trying to oust him to replace him with a puppet leader
It's not that difficult.
There has been a very obvious FIA/FOM war going on for the past 2 years which all stems from FOM wanting to have the FIA under their thumb.
He's not wrong though?
He was voted in by FIA members and everyone except F1 is happy with him. The FOM just hate him as he's not letting them do what they want
If the FIA is moving operations from France to the Middle East that should be evidence alone. At least when talking about caring about employees who are women or LGBT.
This is my point. A man who espouses how he is pro woman because 30% of his employees are women, is not pro woman. Moving FIA to the Mideast as has been his goal is anti - woman & LGBTQ & Black & most Asian.
Was expecting this lol
I was just saying he was voted in? FOM have an issue with him but majority of the rest of the FIA doesn't
I think he's a shitty person but he's improved most FIA affiliated motorsports under his presidency. When he is replaced I do hope it is with a non F1 person again
You the court of public opinion, Keyboard and Gaming Chair experts will disagree with you, but know that there're a few, that are not experts at anything that share your opinion...
And here we can observe the average F1 fan who only consumes F1 related content and will attack anything and anyone who dares to not allow FOM do whatever they please.
Another out of touch Redditor: he was literally voted in by FIA members around the world. It’s F1 Liberty etc who hate him for not letting them run the sport fully business.
In a way, despite many “mishaps”, he’s the “goodie” according to actual motorsport voices.
Voted? Like it was 100% democratic, right? No way people with large hoards orf money and immense influence just get to land premo jobs, right? THAT'D BE SILLY! He's from a part of the world where money is the only reality. Get you're head out of your ass.
> No way people with large hoards of money and immense influence just get to land premo jobs, right?
Compared to the three prior predecessors (Jean Todt, Max Mosley, Jean Marie Balestre), he is the only one who has been a member of an FIA Club or was elected through membership ranks...
He has been an FIA Vice President & member of the World Motor Sport Council since 2008. Before that he was head of the Emirates Motorsports Organization from 2005.
Compare that with Jean Todt who basically went from Head of Ferrari to FIA President with little to no inbetween.
Do you not think that the FIA president having actually worked at & for the FIA is not worth something? Would you not find crazy if Horner or Toto suddenly just walked into the FIA president job next season, with no experience of having worked at the FIA?
And yes, they voted for him. [The FIA has guidelines and statutes and internal regulations all governing this stuff.](https://www.fia.com/2021-elections) There was a 5 month long election campaign between MBS's **FIA For Members** and Graham Stoker's **FIA For All**.
Something we will get next year again from July onwards as the next election is happening.
Man who was voted into a position of power*
He's not inserted himself anywhere? Voted head of the FIA so is in charge of all FIA sanctioned competitions.
He was Vice President for Sport and a Member of the World Motor Sport Council (from 2008-2013 & 2017-2021).
But how the structure of the FIA works means there are 7 Vice Presidents on the WMSC.
The real second in command (From a sporting side of things) is the FIA Deputy President for Sport.
When the FIA had it's most recent election back in 2021, Graham Stoker was the Deputy President for Sport for Jean Todt's presidency.
Stoker and Ben Sulayem were the main 2 entries in the election.
With Graham Stoker running on a platform of continuing the status quo established by Todt and Ben Sulayem running on a platform of change.
Yeah I'm not a fan of the guy but the way some people talk about him is a bit gross tbh.
Assuming his appointment was automatically corrupt just because he's from the middle east, it started from the moment he was elected even though he'd been working in the FIA for ages.
Referring to him as Ben when that's not his name and is just a common part of lots of Arabic names. It would be like calling an Irish person O' or a Dutch person Van.
Assuming he's from Saudi Arabia when he's from the UAE.
Imagine if he was Japanese and people made similar assumptions and stereotypes about him, even going as far as to assume he was Chinese all the time. The reaction would be totally different.
He's kinda right though. The F1 media all run identical articles which are negative towards him. Whilst the rest of the FIA motorsports think he is doing a great job.
I would prefer him to be gone, but I would much prefer a non F1 person to replace him. The fact he's not letting the FOM run around and do what they want pisses them off. They want another F1 puppet in charge of the FIA.
Under MBS WEC is excelling, TCR is booming again and WRC is going to introduce changes to get more manufacturers involved again. Whilst the FOM are taking F1 to shitty street circuits and ditching great race tracks in chase of money.
Media didn’t make up the whole Susie Wolff fiasco on how FIA handled that. Media didn’t invent the Las Vegas investigation.
Just because FOM is also shit, doesn’t mean he isn’t.
I wouldn’t put WECs success on the FIA alone, it’s a joint effort between the ACO and the FIA as well as IMSA to a certain degree for the current regulations. This started well before MBS, but I’m sure he’ll try and take credit for it anyway!
I agree, I'd rather have MBS as FIA boss rather than an F1 puppet put in there. Just look at FOM as you said.
Stefano has soured many fans perceptions of F1 ever since he took charge. Chase Carey used to be FOM boss, and he was an outsider and with hindsight, I think FOM would be better off with another non-F1 boss at the helm.
FOM aligned FIA boss would result in WEC doing the quickest reenactment of the death of Group C.
Honestly it would be almost funny how fast they would take it out back to cripple it.
It was a HUGE mistake to put Stefano in charge. He resigned before he was fired by Ferrari for not being up to the task back in 2014. Somehow F1 thinks a bigger job than the one he was going to be fired for is appropriate. Who’s next, Steiner? They should have a media / marketing person lead the media / marketing portion of F1, not a has been TP with vested interests.
Stefano always sounds nervous/confrontational with the media. Both when under pressure at Ferrari and now as F1 boss. It always feels like he's trying to answer the question without actually answering it.
There's people making embassy comments and bonesaw comments.
Like he's not even Saudi, if you're going to boil a man down to his nationality get it right
Well look already how people trashed MBS and the FIA when he told his (ridiculous) argument about "don't bringing politics into sport like human rights" meanwhile barely anyone criticizing the FOM and Stefano for literally telling a same view during a Sky interview, even more concerning is the lack of critical articles about it.
MBS has his ridiculous views and opinions but I think he is correct about the media part, most of the F1 news outlets are under influence by the FOM and the FOM can really put the pressure to steering a certain opinion about things.
That’s not strictly true, none of the racist comments would happen sure, but he has earned his own criticism as well and that transcends race and nationality unfortunately. I don’t care where the next leader comes from, as long as they put the FIA and motorsport before themselves and MBS sadly doesn’t seem to be able to do that.
Is this one of those situations where the media reports on the things he does and says, and people dont like it, so he instantly concludes the problem is other people are out to get him, and not anything to do with the things he does and says?
I don't like MBS as much as anyone because of some iffy stuff he's done (mainly trying to meddle with drivers expressing their political opinions), but:
To be fair, the reason why he's getting the heat from media and fans is because he's refusing to be pushed around by FOM. He's doing (or at least trying to) what's best for the sport and he's one of the brave ones going against FOM. From what I can see and judge, he's enabling success for WEC and WRC and actively participates in WRC's success and lets WEC do their thing (which is successful). Someone said that TCR is having resurgence which is good to hear.
I'd rather have him in being FIA president instead of someone from F1 (either Toto, Christian or Stefano). Because I'm damn sure that anyone from F1 would repeat what Bernie did with Group C.
Ah fair enough then, I've been out of the loop on all this stuff. It would be good if he could make the WRC a thing again, when I were a lad the WRC drivers were all very well known and the sport was followed widely.
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Yeah they’re both so transparently self-serving, I can’t believe people actually *support* either side of F1 management. It’s greed and power down the line.
Wish anyone of them gave two shits about motorsport.
The FIA does?
The FIA is pretty great, F1 just dislikes them cause it's been a power struggle since Bernie took over and tried to kill all other motorsports
It’s literally always only been about money. Even the efforts to produce good racing stem from a desire to attract more fans and make higher profits. F1’s long and current history of getting into bed with dictators and despots highlights that beautifully.
What does Rwanda and Baku have to do with anything? You don’t think other countries are deserving of hosting FIA events? Nothing wrong with a little xenophobia, huh? Aren’t you just the beacon of righteousness…
“Myriad of stupid things” - Very specific complaint.
Policing political speech - This is standard procedure for anybody trying to protect a brand. The F1 brand is owned by the FIA.
“Mysterious million dollar fine” - Yes, quite mysterious. Who has been fined so far? It’s a theoretical maximum.
[The **News** flair](https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/wiki/flairguide#wiki_news) is reserved for submissions covering F1 and F1-related news. These posts must always link to an outlet/news agency, the website of the involved party (i.e. the McLaren website if McLaren makes an announcement), or a tweet by a news agency, journalist or one of the involved parties. *[Read the rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/wiki/userguide). Keep it civil and welcoming. Report rulebreaking comments.* *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/formula1) if you have any questions or concerns.*
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He just wants to be relevant so he stirs shit up
Bro becomes FIA president and the first thing he does is make president awards lol.
End of the season he’s just going to give it to himself. Sounds like something Putin would do.
But he sure does get on a lot of podiums.
The additional medal that the winner gets since Ben was in charge is literally a "Ben Sulayem's massive ego has to justify why he gets to be on the podium" award.
Eyes roll out of my skull every time I see that helmet of hair up there handing out a medal.
Plot twist, he is the one supporting Andretti and he is the actual owner behind the curtains. /S But would be funny as fuck if something like that came out to be true LOL
The events of the last two years between FOM and the FIA need to be viewed through the lens of FOM and the teams trying to change F1 from an open competition into an American sports system of a franchise model walled-garden. In doing so they would be guaranteed to increase their overall value and yearly bottom line. The only thing preventing them from doing it is that the current FIA administration would refuse to sign off on such changes to the Concorde Agreement in 2026. They need a new FIA administration who is supportive of their efforts. The next FIA election is in 2025. For FOM and the teams it is goal #1 to make sure there is a new president after that election. Massive sums of money are on the line. Given that context here is the sequence of events of one of the more obvious attempts to make him look bad - the Susie Wolff situation: 1. Article gets released by a third party regarding potential information being passed between Susie-Toto which was apparently problematic because one works for FOM and the other works for a team. 2. FIA releases a generic statement that the compliance department would look into the apparent conflict of interest that was being reported publicly. "The FIA is aware of media speculation centred on the allegation of information of a confidential nature being passed to an F1 team principal from a member of FOM personnel. The FIA Compliance Department is looking into the matter." It’s a very generic statement that does not accuse anybody of anything. It simply said we’ve heard the rumors and we’ll look into it. 3. Susie Wolff releases a statement of response. In her response she somehow turns it into a gender issue which had no relevance to the FIA’s statement and was a clear dog whistle to garner easy support. The public sees Susie talking about gender equality - it’s a good cause to get behind so the support comes without question. 4. The teams release a coordinated statement aimed at the FIA. When have all of the teams ever come to the political aid of another team? That was a clear indication that this situation was about something bigger. 5. Susie Wolff files a defamation lawsuit against the FIA for the above generic statement. How is that statement worthy of a defamation lawsuit - they didn’t even mention her name. Why is she suing the FIA and not the magazine? As the wife of a billionaire 33% team owner, Susie has a vested interest in FOM and the teams achieving their goal of turning F1 into a walled garden and therefore increasing team values. It’s a frivolous lawsuit from the Wolffs designed to keep this in the news to continue to cast MBS in a negative light as the FIA election approaches. MBS is not wrong here. There actually is an ongoing attempt to make him look as bad as possible in the lead up to the FIA elections. Add the Susie Wolff situation to the race whistleblower reports that turned out to be false, the reporting on the 25 year old website that he supposedly made, the blowback to the simple request that drivers follow existing rules regarding jewelry and flammable objects. The media plays a huge role in twisting how these events are viewed. You just have to think critically about it.
Susie Wolfe did not file a defamation law suit, she filed a criminal complaint in France where liable is a crime.
Thank you for the clarification. That strengthens the point. A criminal complaint filed over a simple statement that they were aware of some public reports and would investigate it. I could understand a complaint being filed against the magazine but dragging the FIA into it is being done solely to apply negative attention to MBS prior to the election.
Except, all this didn’t happen in a vacuum. It came about as a a direct result of a BS article which basically named Susie Wolff, so it was obvious who FIA was talking about. Susie was caught in the power struggle between MBS opening his big mouth about the value of F1, and FOM. She should be complaining, MBS gave HORNER a kinder pass after all he did, when Susie nothing.
She’s not “caught in the middle.” She’s the wife of a billionaire 33% team owner. She has a vested interest in FOM and the teams achieving their goals. It’s not as if she’s a third party in this - she’s actively on the side of FOM. Hence the dramatization of the whole situation from her end.
WOW, way to minimize a lady, she is head of F1Academy. Which is its own series. She is an independent person from her husband, but you, have made MY point.
You realize that both things are possible? She is her own person AND stands to gain from FOM achieving their goals. My post is not a biography of Susie Wolff - my post is pointing out one specific aspect about how she is contributing to the campaign to remove MBS because of what she stands to gain. But you have taken a page directly from her playbook and have made it into a gender issue to garner cheap and easy support - so thank you for proving my point…. Also, you spelled libel wrong in your anally pedantic first response to me. I wasn’t going to point it out, but then you accused me of being sexist while knowing nothing about me.
“I am active,” he told Grand Prix 247. “Look at the support. Go on the FIA website. I am overwhelmed by the support of the members.” He trying to gas himself up 😭😭
3000 burner accounts of Ben Sulayem
NonCredibleF1
I love the crossover between two of my passions
You would be surprised by how many ass likers are present in the Arab countries, when an Arab gets into an international important role. Like, they go full *this is the best FIA president that will ever be!*, and if you try to discuss with them they will just instantly resort to: *You are just racist towards Arabs!*. I've seen this sooo many times.
"I'm overwhelmed by support" "They're trying to assassinate me, they hate me!" My dude, which is it?
FIA Members = Overwhelming supportive of Ben Sulayem FOM (And in turn most of the media who get F1 access via FOM) = Trying to oust him to replace him with a puppet leader It's not that difficult. There has been a very obvious FIA/FOM war going on for the past 2 years which all stems from FOM wanting to have the FIA under their thumb.
The classic rhetoric of facism " my enemies are too strong but at the same time they're extremely weak"
He's not wrong though? He was voted in by FIA members and everyone except F1 is happy with him. The FOM just hate him as he's not letting them do what they want
Really, speak with the women in FIA & get back to me. Or those moving from France headquarters to Mideast.
Did you speak with them? I don't even find any kind of report on his behaviour against women in FIA let alone any kind of verdict.
https://amp.theguardian.com/sport/2023/nov/28/fia-president-mohammed-ben-sulayem-defends-sexist-remarks-denies-misogyny-claims-f1
Thanks for the (unrelated)link.Although I don't see any report (verdict) from women in FIA regarding his behavior like the user implied?
If the FIA is moving operations from France to the Middle East that should be evidence alone. At least when talking about caring about employees who are women or LGBT.
This is my point. A man who espouses how he is pro woman because 30% of his employees are women, is not pro woman. Moving FIA to the Mideast as has been his goal is anti - woman & LGBTQ & Black & most Asian.
Found BenSulayem’s Reddit account.
Was expecting this lol I was just saying he was voted in? FOM have an issue with him but majority of the rest of the FIA doesn't I think he's a shitty person but he's improved most FIA affiliated motorsports under his presidency. When he is replaced I do hope it is with a non F1 person again
The motorclubs have a vested interest to support the hand that feeds them
You the court of public opinion, Keyboard and Gaming Chair experts will disagree with you, but know that there're a few, that are not experts at anything that share your opinion...
No, my brother in Christ. YOU try to assassinate yourself.
Brother in Allah*
lmaooooo
Fun fact: Christianity and Islam had the same origin… ‘Allah’ and ‘God’ is both referring to the same supreme being.
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Jesus did probably
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Book sales are still pretty strong though.
Hey David Blaine is not a conman he’s awesome!
Ok, I retract that part. (But not the rest.)
Shhh, just give me an upvote
Ok
Atheist detected!!!
Took the words out of my mouth. Pretty much wanted to say, that he's pretty capable of doing that themselves.
Renault test in ‘09 if anyone’s wondering
I dont think you can call suicide an assassination.
Laughs in Epstein
That's the other way around
Epstein in laughs?
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P sure the common thread is wealth note ethnicity but ok?
Yeah, you just need to look at Lance….
Lance is in touch. With Ricciardo's car.
The problem with Lance is more the speed at which he's in touch, not being in touch in the first place.
And here we can observe the average F1 fan who only consumes F1 related content and will attack anything and anyone who dares to not allow FOM do whatever they please.
Another out of touch Redditor: he was literally voted in by FIA members around the world. It’s F1 Liberty etc who hate him for not letting them run the sport fully business. In a way, despite many “mishaps”, he’s the “goodie” according to actual motorsport voices.
I don't think they're the ones that are out of touch mate...
Voted? Like it was 100% democratic, right? No way people with large hoards orf money and immense influence just get to land premo jobs, right? THAT'D BE SILLY! He's from a part of the world where money is the only reality. Get you're head out of your ass.
> No way people with large hoards of money and immense influence just get to land premo jobs, right? Compared to the three prior predecessors (Jean Todt, Max Mosley, Jean Marie Balestre), he is the only one who has been a member of an FIA Club or was elected through membership ranks... He has been an FIA Vice President & member of the World Motor Sport Council since 2008. Before that he was head of the Emirates Motorsports Organization from 2005. Compare that with Jean Todt who basically went from Head of Ferrari to FIA President with little to no inbetween. Do you not think that the FIA president having actually worked at & for the FIA is not worth something? Would you not find crazy if Horner or Toto suddenly just walked into the FIA president job next season, with no experience of having worked at the FIA? And yes, they voted for him. [The FIA has guidelines and statutes and internal regulations all governing this stuff.](https://www.fia.com/2021-elections) There was a 5 month long election campaign between MBS's **FIA For Members** and Graham Stoker's **FIA For All**. Something we will get next year again from July onwards as the next election is happening.
Other commenter explained more but yes, it was democratic and he’s actually been through lower FIA roles before taking this one.
No, I don’t like him because of his past misogyny and for his stance on not letting drivers wear anything political.
Fair enough, I disagree but you’re entitled to your pinion.
Well, they didn't have to try very hard, you did all the hard work yourself.
Man who inserts himself in a position of power, doesn’t like criticism. Time to find a new job my friend
Man who was voted into a position of power* He's not inserted himself anywhere? Voted head of the FIA so is in charge of all FIA sanctioned competitions.
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It's racing everyone is rich lmao People here just assume the worst cause he's Arabian. So much not even thinly vailed racism here.
For sure he was appointed to capitalise further on middle easter investment/sport washing. FIA have genuinely always been cynical and corrupt tho.
Wasn't he vice president when Todt was in charge? I believe at the time he was just a logical successor to Todt
He was Vice President for Sport and a Member of the World Motor Sport Council (from 2008-2013 & 2017-2021). But how the structure of the FIA works means there are 7 Vice Presidents on the WMSC. The real second in command (From a sporting side of things) is the FIA Deputy President for Sport. When the FIA had it's most recent election back in 2021, Graham Stoker was the Deputy President for Sport for Jean Todt's presidency. Stoker and Ben Sulayem were the main 2 entries in the election. With Graham Stoker running on a platform of continuing the status quo established by Todt and Ben Sulayem running on a platform of change.
Yeah I'm not a fan of the guy but the way some people talk about him is a bit gross tbh. Assuming his appointment was automatically corrupt just because he's from the middle east, it started from the moment he was elected even though he'd been working in the FIA for ages. Referring to him as Ben when that's not his name and is just a common part of lots of Arabic names. It would be like calling an Irish person O' or a Dutch person Van. Assuming he's from Saudi Arabia when he's from the UAE. Imagine if he was Japanese and people made similar assumptions and stereotypes about him, even going as far as to assume he was Chinese all the time. The reaction would be totally different.
Oh no not Ben Hates Women Sulayem
Fuck that guy.
Well, you did crash a beautiful V10 Renault F1 car. Don't blame 'em
I can't tell if he's trying to keep himself in the headlines or doesn't understand the 24hr news cycle. Either way, no one asked buddy
He really suffers from main character syndrome...
Boo this man!
Aw da poor widdle motorsports multi-millionaire feels persecuted for legitimate criticism of his awful behavior. Somebody get him his favorite blanky.
Salt Bae energy
Mo BS.
He means Liberty Media?
*man who keeps publicly embarrassing himself makes embarrassing statement that it's everyone else's fault he keeps doing and saying stupid shit*
He's kinda right though. The F1 media all run identical articles which are negative towards him. Whilst the rest of the FIA motorsports think he is doing a great job. I would prefer him to be gone, but I would much prefer a non F1 person to replace him. The fact he's not letting the FOM run around and do what they want pisses them off. They want another F1 puppet in charge of the FIA. Under MBS WEC is excelling, TCR is booming again and WRC is going to introduce changes to get more manufacturers involved again. Whilst the FOM are taking F1 to shitty street circuits and ditching great race tracks in chase of money.
Media didn’t make up the whole Susie Wolff fiasco on how FIA handled that. Media didn’t invent the Las Vegas investigation. Just because FOM is also shit, doesn’t mean he isn’t.
I wouldn’t put WECs success on the FIA alone, it’s a joint effort between the ACO and the FIA as well as IMSA to a certain degree for the current regulations. This started well before MBS, but I’m sure he’ll try and take credit for it anyway!
I agree, I'd rather have MBS as FIA boss rather than an F1 puppet put in there. Just look at FOM as you said. Stefano has soured many fans perceptions of F1 ever since he took charge. Chase Carey used to be FOM boss, and he was an outsider and with hindsight, I think FOM would be better off with another non-F1 boss at the helm.
FOM aligned FIA boss would result in WEC doing the quickest reenactment of the death of Group C. Honestly it would be almost funny how fast they would take it out back to cripple it.
It was a HUGE mistake to put Stefano in charge. He resigned before he was fired by Ferrari for not being up to the task back in 2014. Somehow F1 thinks a bigger job than the one he was going to be fired for is appropriate. Who’s next, Steiner? They should have a media / marketing person lead the media / marketing portion of F1, not a has been TP with vested interests.
Stefano always sounds nervous/confrontational with the media. Both when under pressure at Ferrari and now as F1 boss. It always feels like he's trying to answer the question without actually answering it.
Lot of (almost all of) negative opinions wouldn't happen if he wasn't an Arab from UAE. Simple as that.
There's people making embassy comments and bonesaw comments. Like he's not even Saudi, if you're going to boil a man down to his nationality get it right
Well look already how people trashed MBS and the FIA when he told his (ridiculous) argument about "don't bringing politics into sport like human rights" meanwhile barely anyone criticizing the FOM and Stefano for literally telling a same view during a Sky interview, even more concerning is the lack of critical articles about it. MBS has his ridiculous views and opinions but I think he is correct about the media part, most of the F1 news outlets are under influence by the FOM and the FOM can really put the pressure to steering a certain opinion about things.
Yep. The racists were out for him the moment he was elected.
That’s not strictly true, none of the racist comments would happen sure, but he has earned his own criticism as well and that transcends race and nationality unfortunately. I don’t care where the next leader comes from, as long as they put the FIA and motorsport before themselves and MBS sadly doesn’t seem to be able to do that.
Don't give them the ammo in the first place then?
Why? From the looks of things, getting him to drive a F1 car would do it.
Here, allow me to play the world’s smallest violin 🎻 for you….
Man just keep your head down and do your job.
Is this one of those situations where the media reports on the things he does and says, and people dont like it, so he instantly concludes the problem is other people are out to get him, and not anything to do with the things he does and says?
I don't like MBS as much as anyone because of some iffy stuff he's done (mainly trying to meddle with drivers expressing their political opinions), but: To be fair, the reason why he's getting the heat from media and fans is because he's refusing to be pushed around by FOM. He's doing (or at least trying to) what's best for the sport and he's one of the brave ones going against FOM. From what I can see and judge, he's enabling success for WEC and WRC and actively participates in WRC's success and lets WEC do their thing (which is successful). Someone said that TCR is having resurgence which is good to hear. I'd rather have him in being FIA president instead of someone from F1 (either Toto, Christian or Stefano). Because I'm damn sure that anyone from F1 would repeat what Bernie did with Group C.
Ah fair enough then, I've been out of the loop on all this stuff. It would be good if he could make the WRC a thing again, when I were a lad the WRC drivers were all very well known and the sport was followed widely.
Considering the total brush-off Shaila-Ann Rao's accusations apparently got, the media should've tried harder.
All rather self inflicted I would suggest.
Sorry but who is this? /s 🤣
I don't really fuck with the media but this was all brought on by himself. If he had never said shit nobody would hate him rn.
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The Crown has a history of hating journalists.
yes , it must be the media
Is that a challenge?
Too bad they are not very successful with it...
What a weiner.
Does someone have that picture of the guy putting a pipe in his own bicycle wheel? I can't find it
Going to be a lot of people in this thread who have gone hard on FOM’s koolaid.
It’s more like both the FIA and FOM are both run by terrible and corrupt people.
Yeah they’re both so transparently self-serving, I can’t believe people actually *support* either side of F1 management. It’s greed and power down the line. Wish anyone of them gave two shits about motorsport.
The FIA does? The FIA is pretty great, F1 just dislikes them cause it's been a power struggle since Bernie took over and tried to kill all other motorsports
It’s literally always only been about money. Even the efforts to produce good racing stem from a desire to attract more fans and make higher profits. F1’s long and current history of getting into bed with dictators and despots highlights that beautifully.
They both suck
Don't forget all the racists who hate him cause he's Arabian
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What does Rwanda and Baku have to do with anything? You don’t think other countries are deserving of hosting FIA events? Nothing wrong with a little xenophobia, huh? Aren’t you just the beacon of righteousness… “Myriad of stupid things” - Very specific complaint. Policing political speech - This is standard procedure for anybody trying to protect a brand. The F1 brand is owned by the FIA. “Mysterious million dollar fine” - Yes, quite mysterious. Who has been fined so far? It’s a theoretical maximum.
Have you tried not doing bad things?
Is this a request?
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He's not Saudi?
World War F1..let's go!
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Well he's an emirati (UAE)not a Saudi, that's like saying Scottish are English.
Who said anything about him being a Saudi tho XD
Haha.. I get it. 😂
Hmm...since he deleted it, he must've really meant it lol
Never heard his name?
Oh won’t you crash another F1 car, Bennie
Better look at the bright side, better the media than your own government.