Ben Sulayem says "cleaning the house wasn't easy" ahead of second FIA term

Speaking candidly, Ben Sulayem addressed the resistance, criticism, and controversy that have defined his tenure, from leadership reform and cultural change inside the FIA to election rules, governance, and financial recovery.

He rejects claims of institutional crisis, arguing instead that the organization has undergone a necessary cure rather than a cosmetic fix, restoring discipline, transparency, and financial stability.

Ben Sulayem also tackles his relationship with Formula 1, the drivers, and the sport’s commercial stakeholders, insisting that strong leadership and rule enforcement must take precedence over popularity. He explains his stance on stewarding, driver conduct, manufacturer interest, and future team expansion.

He also hailed the new Concorde agreement was signed this week, marking what he calls a historic turning point for the FIA and Formula 1 as the sport enters its next chapter in 2026.

Mohammed Ben Sulayem: "Wrong question. It was okay. Let me see. Did I expect this type of challenge? Yes and no. Yes, I love challenges. But no, when it comes to common sense. See, I do not think the FIA was doing its responsibility, and the leadership was not there.

"I mean, very frank, you cannot just ignore a big championship like this and not have the FIA present itself in the right way. When we go back and say, what is the mission of the FIA? The mission of the FIA is the grassroots mission of the FIA, to promote motorsport, and encourage our clubs to do the same. It is a long list. But I always believed that the FIA Formula One World Championship lacked a lot of things, and one of them is strong leadership.

"One of them is stewarding that everybody is blaming us on, and then the race directors, a lot of this. But when one of the journalists asked me: The FIA was booed, or you were booed for something. Really? Have you ever seen a referee in football being cheered? Never. Do we expect this? No. Do I expect to be cheered? No. I always say I was not elected by the fans. I was elected by the members.

"The fans are so important for us, but there are two types of them. There are ones hiding and throwing rubbish on social media, on the drivers, on the media, even the journalists, and on us. And there are the good ones that we need, and we strive to support them. So the challenge for 4 years was fierce. It was mixed. Good, bad, and ugly. It was dirty."

MBS: "Yes. I do not like bandages. The four years were very clear. I invested. I was hard, but I knew what I was doing. But we are talking about a bandage or a cure. A bandage, you can have it straight away. A cure takes time. I was saying, no celebrations. We finish, we sign, we clear, we clear our house.

"We had an issue, the culture of the FIA. We had staff who were told to serve the President and the promoters. I am sorry, no. They should be serving the sport and the members, not me and the promoter. Promoters come and go. Today, I would say I am looking forward to the next four years. Cleaning the house was not easy. Getting the right people in the FIA was a challenge. Oh yes. Now I can tell you it was worth the four years of investment.

"If you tell me now, if you had the power to rewind the four years, what would you do? Nothing. I would not have reached where I reached now if I did not go through these challenges, this aggression. My God, I was attacked day and night. Do I care? Okay, sometimes you are human. But to tell you the truth, I just ignore everything and focus on what I promised I would be focusing on."

MBS: "What do you mean? I would like to know the controversy. Did you check? Did you check it is there on our website? Did you check what we have changed? That is my question. Did we change? Nothing. Nothing.

"This is 20 years ago. The rules say very specifically you have to have four or three with you on your presidential board, and seven from each region. I did not write the rules. I inherited them. They have been there for 20 years. If they have a problem, it is written there. They knew it before.

"Are they good? Of course they are good, because then you have representation of everywhere. We talk about democracy when it suits us, not when democracy has effort to play in it. If it suits you, you say black, white. When it does not, no.

"We are so democratic in this FIA, more than what you think. I will ask you a question. IOC, do you know their guidelines? Countries cannot vote, certain members. We are more democratic. Every country, big, small, will have the same right. This is our constitution. This is where the power is, General Assembly. They stay. They are the ones who decide, not X, Y, Z.

"Why did you not go to Latin America, both of you, you and the other guy, and go there and gain trust and have someone to put you as a nomination? If your own country did not. I will ask both of them. The first one is from the United States. The second is from Switzerland. How can you be a candidate if you do not have a nominee from your own country? Your own country did not nominate you. Your own clubs did not nominate you. Why do you blame it on the FIA? I honestly do not understand. We cannot be more clear.

"Clarity and transparency we have more than ever. They talk about transparency, clarity, governance. Before my time, do you know how many times the accounts came? Once at the end, and it was not clear. Now we have it 4 times a year, quarterly.

"There was nothing called informative sessions before the World Council. Now we have informative sessions and a strategy before they make their votes. We introduced it. We introduced it even on the mobility side. I would challenge anyone if they say we were minus €23,000,000 in our operating cost. Now we are, by far, in the green. We have more staff, hospitality, more grants, and we are still in the plus. I am very proud."

MBS: "Oh yes, the financial was disaster. Disaster. Now I look at it, I am very proud of what is going on. But going back to the election. Election is for everyone. It is too easy for someone to just go. Have your own club nominate you. Why do you throw stones on the FIA? If you are credible enough, go to your own country, talk to your own club, convince them to send a letter. Did we change that? No."

MBS: "No, it cannot be hard. Why not? Go and convince the others. You are allowed more. You have time to bring more, maybe five, six. It is about the candidate to go there. How can you be a candidate if you are not nominated? You are talking about candidates. There are no candidates.

"After Jean Todt there was a candidate. Exactly. Why did people elect me and I am not from Europe? Ask yourself this question. I went to the Americas, I sat down with them, I made them trust me, and I got my seven. You really think people can parachute into the FIA and the members? No. You have to respect the members. Members are not dumb. Members are very smart. They will check the person before they nominate him. It is democracy, for God’s sake.

"It is always “the FIA did this, the FIA did that.” Come on. I always say, tongue has no bones. This is an Arabic saying for 5,000 years. Tongue has no bones. You can say this, you can say that. I have no time for this. Honestly, I am busy doing what I was elected for."

MBS: "Peace in what? And controversies. What is the controversy? It is easy to say “you are controversial”. Tell me what is controversial."

MBS: "Like what? Please tell me. I would like to know, because I am interested.

"You tell me, if today there is a team which got five seconds of a penalty, what about the other team? They were leading, then they moved from first and second. Who is the first one to throw stones at the FIA? Of course. That is normal. You really think there will be love between the FIA and the drivers? Love does not exist. Strong and fairness, that is what we are here for. Discipline.

"When we say do not wear jewelry, we care about their lives, and they know it very well. If you have an accident with any sort of metal, you know what will happen if you get burned. It was not my decision. It was the medical decision. It was already there. Of course, they would come against me.

"They think if we throw stones at him, and the media, the President will come back and say sorry. The media do not have a vote. I was not voted by the media. I was voted by the members for a good cause. I respect the media. But when they claim they love the sport, send us whatever you think is better. I promise we will look into it. Maybe you see better than us.

"Then we come to the language. The language is from 1975. I did not write that. Do you really want us to have a dirty sport? No. Thank you very much. Some drivers are reaching €100,000,000, and I praise them for that. They say do more even. But the FIA to be hit all the time? No. I love the FIA. The FIA made me where I am now, and I will always protect it.

"These are genius drivers, unbelievable talent, smart, clever, intelligent. If they can control a car at 300 kilometers, they can control their mouth and tongue. I am sorry. They are our role models. I consider them like my children, like my sons and daughters. I was a driver. I love them. But discipline is important. You can offend people, culture, religion, in other places.

"Why should we do this? They have the right to express emotions. It is part of the action. But what do you want me to do, beep, beep, beep? No. Look at it. Does Verstappen complain? Have you heard him saying anything about me? Norris, Piastri, Alonso, I have never seen. The big complainer was Russell."

MBS: "I just had a meeting with BYD, five seconds before I entered. But motorsport is more than Formula 1."

MBS: "My opinion is there. I have always said it very clear. Now I have the best relationship now ever. It took four years with our promoter, with Formula 1, and especially with Stefano [Domenicali]. I consider him a friend.

"Manufacturer, good. They have 2 options. Buy a team, or come in. I have no doubt that the promoter will support having a team. The understanding between myself, the FIA, and him, it is there. What you are asking me is about before. But sometimes you need this.

"They say about me, controversial. I honestly want to know what is controversial. I am only implementing the rules. Jewellery, bad language, controversial? It is there. I did not write it. If you have the rules, you either implement them or remove them. They are there. I did not write anything."

MBS: "Very good. Excellent. Took time. But I was elected. I am not an employee. I was elected and trusted to take the FIA where I wrote in the manifesto. I keep my word. I am very happy now. It took 4 years, fine, and every day we are signing an approval. We did not turn the page. We turned the chapter."

MBS: "I cannot tell you the details. We agreed we will launch it. It is good. It is fair. The sport will be better. Everything is positive in it. I call it a historical moment. Do I say Concorde Agreement? I think I will call it the Abu Dhabi agreement, because it was here.

"Of course, sometimes you have tough times, but I enjoy the challenge. I enjoyed putting the FIA where it belongs. I am more interested in the members and the sport than anything. I do not have a private personal agenda at all.

"When you are so desperate, you think the media can remove me. They attack me. On what? Because I brought another team, or because I refused something to make fairness? I would never be a puppet as an FIA President. No one can buy me. You come to me with fairness, that is it."

MBS: "Exactly. Where is the democracy in this?"

MBS: "I like your question. I sat down with them and I said we have a menu. Choose. We will adjust to you. The world has changed now. You cannot go and lock the door. It is the wrong approach with big manufacturers. We have to say, we will work together. Look at our menu, what adds value to your brand, and it will add value to us. This is my approach with them. They like it. I am happy with the meeting. I feel it is going forward big time."

MBS: "I leave it to the cost cap department. Is it one team only? I heard maybe more. Are we controversial when it is only us?

"They are the ones who broke the rules, and then we are to blame. Unbelievable. You will hear things. I cannot proceed and say things. Believe me."