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The FIA vs F1 battle has been simmering ever since Mohammed ben Sulayem took over from Jean Todt at the end of the 2021 Season.
The landscape when Ben Sulayem took over was not ideal. The F1 ecosystem was reeling from the disaster of the 2021 Abu Dhabi GP and everyone was coming for the head of the then-race director Michael Masi.
One year hence and Masi is no longer in charge. However, at the same time, both the FIA and the FOM (Formula One Management) are at loggerheads. So much so that the leaked letter by the FOM was written with the intention of putting the FIA in its place.
There is a lack of clarity over what's going to happen next as there have been rumors that the F1 teams want the FIA president replaced by Dave Richards.
Having said that, how has the new FIA president's regime performed ever since he took over? Let's take a look as we try to determine the good, the bad, and the ugly of Mohammed ben Sulayem's one-year reign as FIA president.
FIA president's regime (2022 F1 season to Present)
The Good - Handling of porpoising/bouncing issue
In terms of its role as the governing body for F1, one area for which the FIA does not get enough credit is the organization's nimbleness when it comes to the safety of the drivers. This has been a trademark of the organization since the 1990s and is something that should be commended.
In 2022, one of the crucial topics of conversation was the porpoising issue. The new generation of F1 cars with ground effect in place tend to suffer from bouncing and porpoising issues. Last season, while teams like Red Bull Racing had shown an acute ability to control this phenomenon, teams like Mercedes did not.
When multiple drivers, including Lewis Hamilton and Daniel Ricciardo, were seen holding their lower backs and in extreme discomfort after the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku, it made everyone question the severity of the porpoising issue.
The FIA should be commended for the prompt action taken in Canada, where they issued a technical directive allowing certain changes to be made in Montreal to try to alleviate it.
From that point onwards, the conversation around porpoising or the visually adverse bouncing phenomenon was less and less prominent because the FIA did not compromise on the safety of drivers.
The Bad - The Jewelry Gate
Arguably one of the silliest storylines of 2022 revolved around the updates on Lewis Hamilton wearing jewelry or not. There's nothing wrong with an FIA president shuffling a few things when he takes over, or a decision to enforce some directives in a stringent manner.
If all of this is done in an organized and decisive manner, then there's not much of an issue. The way the FIA race directors went about it, however, was far from organized.
Hamilton dragged out the entire enforcement in the media, with the Mercedes driver indicating again and again that he will continue to wear jewelry.
In arguably the biggest sign of ineffectiveness from the FIA, the jewelry ban that was supposed to be implemented by the third race of the season continued to get dragged even after the summer break. During all this time, both Sebastian Vettel and Hamilton remarked multiple times on how the entire thing was just a move to target the Mercedes driver.
In all of this, instead of clarifying its stance in the media and putting together a strong and decisive front, the FIA preferred to work on things behind closed doors, a ploy that didn't paint the organization in a good light.
The Ugly - Meddling with F1's commercial interests
The point that had the FOM upset was when the FIA president thought it was prudent enough to comment on a Bloomberg report where a possible F1 sale bid was revealed.
Mohammed ben Sulayem gave his take on the entire matter in a way that was totally unprovoked and angered Liberty Media, who own the commercial rights of Formula 1.
Tensions have also increased after the FIA president meddled in the issue of an introduction of an 11th team on the grid. Ben Sulayem has been a vocal advocate of Andretti's F1 bid to join the grid, especially when the General Motors partnership became official.
Neither the F1 teams nor the FOM have been particularly interested in bringing a 11th team onto the grid. The FIA president inviting "expression of interest" for new teams in the sport and following that up with his meddling in F1's commercial affairs was seen as him overstepping his boundaries.
While it remains to be seen what happens next, it was completely out of order for an FIA president to interfere with F1's commercial interests, which has ignited a cold war that is out in the public eye.
