Mohammed Ben Sulayem

Mohammed Ben Sulayem
President of Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile
Incumbent
Assumed office 17 December 2021
Preceded by	Jean Todt
Personal details
Born	(1961-11-12) 12 November 1961 Dubai, Trucial States (now United Arab Emirates)
Nationality	Emirati
World Rally Championship record Active years 1988, 1990–1995 Co-driver Ronan Morgan Teams Toyota, Ford Rallies 23 Championships 0 Rally wins 0 Podiums 0 Stage wins 0 Total points 12 First rally 1988 Acropolis Rally Last rally 1995 Rally Australia Middle East Rally Championship Years active 1983–2002 Teams Ford, Toyota Championship titles 14 X Middle East Rally Championship

Mohammed Ahmad Sultan Ben Sulayem (Arabic: محمد بن سليم; born 12 November 1961) is an Emirati former rally driver and current president of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), the governing body of many auto racing events including Formula One.

He is a former rally driver, and one of the most successful Middle East Rally Championship drivers, winning 14 titles. In 2005, he became the President of the Emirates Motorsports Organization, the representative of the United Arab Emirates in the FIA. In 2008, he was elected as a Vice President for sport and a member of the FIA World Motor Sport Council. He was key to organizing the first Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in 2009. In 2012, he was among the founding members and chairman of FIA sub-region of Arab Council of Touring and Automobile Clubs. In December 2021, he was appointed as FIA President, succeeding Jean Todt.

In September 2024 he was appointed as UN Tourism’s Ambassador for Sustainable Tourism in the Sport category in recognition of his efforts in integrating sustainability initiatives into global motorsport.

Early life and education

Sulayem was born on 12 November 1961 in Dubai, Trucial States (now United Arab Emirates). He studied business at the American University in Washington, D.C. where he graduated with a bachelor's degree.

Personal life

Sulayem is a prominent car collector and owns multiple supercars including Koenigsegg Agera RS, Koenigsegg Regera, Koenigsegg Chimera, Mercedes-Benz, Ferrari, Porsche, McLaren, Bugatti, Jaguar, Lexus, Ford GT, Lamborghini and Rolls-Royce.

In July 2012, he was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Science from the University of Ulster in recognition of his services to sport, civic leadership and charity.

On 7 March 2023, one of Ben Sulayem's sons, Saif Ben Sulayem, died in a road accident in Dubai.

Racing career

Ben Sulayem competed in the Middle East Rally Championship driving for Toyota and Ford. He won his first title in 1986 with a Toyota Celica and went on to win six consecutive titles till 1991. In 1994, He won his seventh title with a Ford Escort RS Cosworth. From 1996 to 2002, Ben Sulayem won a further seven titles with Ford, making the most successful driver in the championship with over 60 wins and 14 titles (both the records have since been broken by Nasser Al-Attiyah).

Administrative career

In 2005, he became the President of the Emirates Motorsports Organization, the representative of the UAE in FIA. In 2008, he was elected as a Vice President for sport and a member of the FIA World Motor Sport Council, and he was key to organizing the first Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in 2009. In 2012, he was among the founding members and chairman of FIA sub-region of Arab Council of Touring and Automobile Clubs.

In June 2013, he was appointed as the chairman of the new Motor Sport Development Task Force set up by the FIA to build a ten-year plan for the sport's global development. In December 2021, he was appointed as the FIA President succeeding Jean Todt.

Honors

• 14 X Middle East Rally Championship (1986-91, 1994, 1996-2002)

Individual

Individual honors won include:

• Medal of Honour, King Hussein of Jordan (1986)
• President’s Cup, President Amine Gemayel of Lebanon (1987)
• Medal of Honour, President Emile Lahoud of Lebanon (1999)
• Medal of Honour, King Abdullah of Jordan (1999)
• Medal of Honour, King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa of Bahrain (2004)
• UAE Sportsman of the Century, Agence France-Presse (AFP)

Controversies

In 2009, during a promotional event for Renault F1 team in Dubai, Ben Sulayem crashed a Renault R28 Formula One car in a race against a Ford GT.

In 2022, Ben Sulayem, as FIA President, oversaw the investigation into the controversial ending of the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. The race ended with a last lap shootout when the Race Director (Michael Masi) brought in the safety car on the same lap as allowing lapped cars to unlap themselves. This breaches F1 regulations, which require the safety car to stay out for an additional lap after unlapping lapped cars. Had the regulations been applied correctly, the race would have ended under safety car conditions with no overtaking allowed on the final lap. The investigation concluded that while the safety car did not stay out for the additional lap, "as required by article 48.12", the result was legitimised because, as Mercedes AMG did not appeal, there was "no available mechanism to change the classification". The investigation failed to report that the FIA President has the power under Judicial & Disciplinary article 9.1.1.d to refer the controversial ending to the FIA International Court of Appeal (ICA) for them to decide whether the result was legitimate. The ICA have the power to change race classifications should they deem that regulations were infringed. This option is available until March 2027, 5 years after the report was published, in accordance with the statute of limitation defined in the F1 Sporting Regulations.

Ben Sulayem allegedly told FIA officials to declare the Las Vegas circuit unsafe for racing and not certify the Las Vegas Grand Prix circuit for its 2023 race. Ben Sulayem is also under investigation for allegedly attempting to intervene in the results of the 2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. On 5 March 2024 the FIA confirmed its compliance officer has received two whistleblower complaints.

In January 2023, The Times newspaper resurfaced comments Ben Sulayem made on his now archived website in 2001. The newspaper quoted Sulayem as saying he did not like "women who think they are smarter than men, for they are not in truth". The veracity of the quotes was not refuted by Sulayem, but the FIA defended him saying "the remarks in this archived website from 2001 do not reflect the president's beliefs".

In November 2024, Ben Sulayem faced criticism the Grand Prix Drivers Association (GPDA) after both Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc received punishment for occasional swearing in FIA press conferences. Verstappen received both a fine and an FIA community service order for swearing in press conference ahead of the 2024 Singapore Grand Prix whilst Leclerc received a fine for swearing in the post-race press conference in response to leading question from journalist asking how he felt when he nearly crashed at the 2024 Mexico City Grand Prix . In an open letter the GPDA said:

GPDA : "There is a difference between swearing intended to insult others and more casual swearing, such as you might use to describe bad weather, or indeed an inanimate object such as an F1 car, or a driving situation. As is the case with every sport, competitors must abide by the referee's decision, whether they like it or not, indeed whether they agree with it or not. That is how sport works. The Drivers (our members) are no different, and fully understand that.

"Our members are professional drivers, racing in Formula 1, the pinnacle of international motorsport. They are the gladiators and every racing weekend they put on a great show for the fans. "There is a difference between swearing intended to insult others and more casual swearing, such as you might use to describe bad weather, or indeed an inanimate object such as an F1 car, or a driving situation. "We urge the FIA president to consider his own tone and language when talking to our member drivers, or indeed about them, whether in a public forum or otherwise.

"Further, our members are adults. They do not need to be given instructions by the media about matters as trivial as the wearing of jewellery or underpants". The GPDA has, on countless occasions, expressed its view that Driver monetary fines are not appropriate for our Sport. For the past 3 years, we have called upon the FIA President to share the details and strategy regarding how the FIA's financial fines are allocated and where the funds are spent.

"We have also relayed our concerns about the negative image financial fines bring to the Sport. We once again request that the FIA President provide financial transparency and direct, open dialogue with us. All stakeholders (FIA, F1, the Teams and the GPDA) should jointly determine how and where the money is spent for the benefit of our Sport.

"The GPDA wishes to collaborate in a constructive way with all the stakeholders, including the FIA President, in order to promote our great Sport for the benefit of everyone who works in it, pays for it, watches it, and indeed loves it. We are playing our part".

- GPDA written response to the FIA's clampdown on driver misconduct

Racing record

Complete WRC results

Year	Entrant	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	WDC	Points
1988	Marlboro Middle East Rally Team	Ford Sierra RS Cosworth	MON	SWE	POR	KEN	FRA	GRC Ret	USA	NZL	ARG	FIN	CIV	ITA	GBR		NC	0
1990	Winston Toyota Team Middle East	Toyota Celica GT-Four ST165	MON	POR	KEN	FRA	GRC Ret	NZL	ARG	FIN	AUS	ITA	CIV	GBR			NC	0
1991	Toyota Team Europe	Toyota Celica GT-Four ST165	MON	SWE	POR	KEN	FRA	GRC	NZL	ARG 7	FIN	AUS	ITA	CIV	ESP	GBR	40th	4
1992	Marlboro Team Ford	Ford Sierra RS Cosworth 4X4	MON	SWE	POR 20	KEN	FRA	GRC Ret	NZL Ret	ARG	FIN	AUS 14	ITA Ret	CIV	ESP 9	GBR	58th	2
1993	Marlboro Team Ford	Ford Escort RS Cosworth	MON	SWE Ret	POR Ret	KEN	FRA	GRC Ret	ARG 6	NZL	FIN	AUS	ITA 17	ESP Ret	GBR		31st	6
1994	Marlboro Team Ford	Ford Escort RS Cosworth	MON	POR Ret	KEN	FRA 21	GRC Ret	ARG	NZL	FIN	ITA	GBR					NC	0
1995	Marlboro Toyota Grifone	Toyota Celica GT-Four ST205	MON	SWE 26	POR Ret	FRA 21	NZL Ret	AUS Ret	ESP	GBR							NC	0

Trivia

Sulayem's name appears as NPC competitors name in several computer games regarding car racing such as Colin McRae: Dirt 2 and Dirt 3.

External links

• Mohammed Ben Sulayem
• Ben Sulayem Performance