Mohammed Ben Sulayem claims to have experienced “hell” when he supported the arrival of an 11th team in F1
The president of the FIA, Mohammed Ben Sulayem, has launched a call for bids to increase the number of teams in Formula 1. A desire that he claims has made him experience "hell", in his own words.
Mohammed Ben Sulayem, the president of the FIA, has received more negative comments following the tender launched by the federation on February 2nd to welcome new teams in F1. Ben Sulayem claims that this would allow F1 to maintain “the long-term general interest of the championship”. Among all the applications submitted to the FIA, only the alliance between Andretti and the Cadillac manufacturer, owned by the General Motors group, was chosen. However, for a new team to join F1 without buying an existing one, they must pay an entry fee of $200 million. After publicly announcing his desire for new teams to enter, Mohammed Ben Sulayem stated that he had experienced hell from certain individuals, as reported by the media outlet Speedcafe, which attended a press conference by the FIA President in Austin.
The attacks suffered by Ben Sulayem.
In his conference, the president of the FIA addressed the numerous attacks he has experienced. « I wonder what I did to deserve all this criticism in February and March? They attacked me the day I opened the expression of interest. Even when my son died, they attacked me, mistreated me, just to break me, just because I opened the world to enter. It was unnecessary, counterproductive, not good for business. They can say whatever they want. Ultimately, I was elected to take care of the sport. Nothing goes into my pocket. We don’t have shareholders, we don’t have a board of directors to share the money, so my mission is different from theirs. It’s very clear. »
Ben Sulayem also took the opportunity during this interview to reaffirm his desire to see new teams join Formula 1. « There are 12 (authorized) teams. Yes, I will say it again, if there is another reliable and worthy team, I will once again open the expression of interest for it. That’s what will happen. The teams are very important, the drivers are very important, but it is all of us, combined, who make the spectacle. The FIA has done all the due diligence, the rigorous process, we have done everything. We have waited, we have been patient, and we have asked the right questions. Now, we will not go back on our word. We have supported Andretti because it was the right thing to do. It is very clear, and I congratulate my team for doing it. »
