FIA president executes perfect F1 PR disaster: Up/Down Qatar

It’s almost like the quiet reign of former FIA president Jean Todt never happened.

Since taking over as prez at the end of 2021, Mohammed Ben Sulayem has seemed intent on bridging the gap to Max Mosley’s tenure, somehow being even more contentious.

And my, isn’t he doing a good job of it?

In the last two weeks alone, Ben Sulayem’s reign of ‘fired and fury’ has seen senior stewarding official Tim Mayer, deputy Formula 2 race director Janette Tan, F1 race director Niels Wittich and FIA compliance officer Paolo Basarri all removed. These are hardly the first high profile departures under the current president, leading Mayer to comment the governing body was “running out of people to do those jobs”.

Then there’s how he responds to the request for more clarity and maturity from the FIA in its actions towards drivers:

“None of their business. Sorry. With all respect, I am a driver. I respect the drivers. Let them go and concentrate on what they do best, which is race,” he told Autosport’s Jonathan Noble.

This comes on top of his previous clod-hopping interventions, such as when the former rally driver also stuck his nose in by describing an alleged valuation of F1 as “inflated”; criticised drivers for making political statements; and made inflammatory comments about women’s intelligence.

When asked if he worried about the criticism following the litany of controversies under him, Ben Sulayem said: “No, big time. No. I will tell you something, what’s happening. I think I live free of charge in their brains, huh… It’s a good apartment there, they give me.”

Lovely, how professional…

Going Down

Public relations enemy No1

Talk about PR disaster.

Even if what Ben Sulayem is justified in what he’s saying up to a point, he could at least do it with a bit of grace. Of which he has none.

Then the FIA stewards managed to make the atmosphere even more tense. They deemed Alex Albon’s stray wing mirror lying on the pit straight not serious enough debris to put a safety car out for – until Valtteri Bottas smashed it into many pieces to give both Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz punctures as they ran it over.

A pretty good metaphor for the current mess.

The bell tolls?

Second-place finish one week for Hamilton (and looking like he had the pace to win) then nowhere the next.

Is the F1 great now in his late phase similar to tennis titans Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, serving up aces one moment then missing easy winners the following point – with no explanation why?

Getting ripped by your own team boss

“It looked like he just misjudged it, but when the light goes out, you’re supposed to go,”

This was Christian Horner’s take on why his beleaguered Red Bull charge Sergio Perez seemed to forget to put his foot down when starting from the pitlane, meaning he was overtaken by Franco Colapinto – also starting from the pits.

Poor Checo, he seems to have just mentally collapsed. Think he needs an extra-long stint on a beach in Mexico.

(Second) baptism of fire

A tricky weekend for Lawson.

The kid’s trying to prove he’s tough enough for Red Bull, but recent form was summed up when he spun off after oversteering into the hapless Bottas.

Colapunto

Tough break for Franco Colapinto, who a few races ago was being talked up as a future Red Bull driver, but now after trashing his Williams one too many times is now looking at no race drive again next year.

And it wasn’t even his fault when Nico Hülkenberg skittled both the Argentine and Esteban Ocon out of the race in one go at the very first turn. You win some, you lose some, clearly.

Going Up

Zhou’s last stand

Kick Start Retire Sauber Something Or Other has had one of the worst seasons for a team in recent memory, so it was heart-warming to see Zhou Guanyu secure eighth place, its first points of the season.

Maybe it was their cute little trip into the desert that gave the Swiss squad the inspiration it needed.

True blue fightback

The Gasly-Alpine combination has suddenly lit on fire, scoring 19 points in the last four races.

With form like that, he might be able to single-handedly secure sixth place for Alpine in the constructors’ battle.

Arabian racing nights

There might only be one overtaking spot, but with almost no slow corners, the Losail circuit is a thrilling one to watch the current generation of F1 cars on.

The chaotic race on the low-grip, physically demanding circuit only added to this argument.

Resurrection

The 2024 constructors’ battle looked dead in the water until Norris was given his draconian penalty for a double yellow flag speeding infringement, allowing the title fight to make a miraculous recovery.

The upshot was that Ferrari actually outscored McLaren after looking well beaten for most of the race.

It might make for an exciting finale at Yas Marina, the world’s most boring race track (90-degree first corner anyone?). Don’t hold your breath though.