FIA Mohammed Ben Sulayem is the new FIA President

All of that maybe true but the Saudi's couldn't give two hoots about how the races are run. They'll invest a fortune in making people think it's the greatest, most wonerful version of F1 ever, and that will be that.

Look at the number of football writers and broadcasters who described the world cup final as the best one ever. By the final whistle they'd all forgotten about the fact that it was in Qatar because all they could see was Messi.

Look at the Premier league. How many times do you hear on Match of the Day "he's the XXXX in the history of the premier league". It's as if there was no such thing as football before 1993.

Give it two or three years and Martin Brundle will be introducing the Saudi backed "world series of formula motorsport racing"
 
its obviously not acceptable his sexist views, of course he is going to use the thing in his defence that it was in 2001 & its 2023. which is valid because people do learn & a opinion you hold in 2001 isnt necessarily a opinion you will hold in 2023. because he can be educated

but as i was saying on andretti thread im loving the battle between the teams & FIA president. because they are both scoring points at both ends. & its tit for tat
 
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The ironic thing is, the thing that's got the teams all heated up recently is his comments around expanding the grid and on that one he is actually correct. The teams should shut up.

F1 was always about having anyone who could build a car that met the rules and could qualify, could enter. The teams don't want anything that effects their cash flow.

Absolute mediocrity has become acceptable because even if you finish 10th you still get a sack full of cash. Heaven forbid teams actually have to try and compete to not finish outside of the cash zone.
 
Man who lives in country ruled by a dictatorship doesn't understand when vaguely democratic organisation doesn't respond to autocratic rule shocker.

That said, the worst people to run any sport are those taking part.
 
"Everyone thinks he's got to go," said one Formula 1 team boss, on condition of anonymity. "That is definitely the general view."
Click to expand

to be fair to him, the team have gone above their station, this might as well be called "we dont like him, he's got to go, we dont like it that he has a different opinion to us"

to me nobody comes out of this well the FIA president doesnt look good, but then this is historic speeches have only come out because someone must have been paid to get dirt on him. as ive mentioned before that these team have looked terribly, they have releveled there worst side, they are selfish & unbelievably short sighted. as it makes me laugh that every team thinks either there there for the long haul or dont care about the mess when they leave, leaving us with 16-18 drivers

Bernie was right about 1 thing F1 only works as a dictatorship
 
The big problem for Ben Sulaymen is that the FIA don't own F1 so he can bleat on as much as he likes and then Liberty Media can pickup their sport and move it somewhere else.
 
That's been said before, however the FIA licence all tracks for motor sports, therefore F1 teams and FOM will have to own their own tracks which will be used for 3 days a year, unless they open them for events not sanctioned by the FIA, the FIA also issue the competition licences and can quite easily ban anyone entering and racing in a non regulated race. FOM going out on their own would digging a big hole and possibly be suicide, but at least they've dug the hole to bury themselves
 
And that's been all said before in many different sports.

Look how quickly the US and European golf tours are backing down in the face of the new Saudi backed series. One minute it was all "Anyone who plays in this series won't be granted a tour card in the US or Europe, won't get a Ryder cup place or be allowed to play in a major"

The next it's "Please come in but don't forget to wipe your feet"

The FIA get the bulk of their funding from F1 so there's no way they'd cut their noses off to spite their face. Breakaways have only ever been prevented by being bought off. In this day and age, there is plenty of Middle Eastern money that would be willing to fund races and plenty of places more than willing to run them.

Regarding driverrs licenses, they wouldn't give a toss either. How many drivers do anything other than F1 at the same time? It's not like 40 years ago when they may do F2, F1 and Sports Cars in a single season. Then, when they finish with F1, I doubt there would be a legal way of stopping them being licensed for an FIA series.

The greatest trick that Bernie ever pulled was getting the FIA to give him the rights and then to flog them off without ever really owning them himself.
 
You're missing the pint cider_and_toast , I'm not talking about F1 licences and drivers, but the general competition licence all competitors need as they advance through the formulas, unless FOM supply licences for all the junior formulas for uses on their tracks for progression to F1. Each country has a motoring organisation that supplies licences to compete, in the UK it's the RAC Motorsports , not the RAC that's a PLC, other countries have a similar arrangement with the FIA throughout the world to standardise the competence of the competitor as they move through the racing classes and formulas, these range from National licences to International licences for each class and formulas, so not easy for an up and coming driver to take the chance of racing on an unlicensed circuit and getting banned from FIA licensed circuit and unable to show their capability either nationally or internationally in some big F3 or F2 series that are licensed. There is no way his can happen in a season irrespective of cash legal or otherwise, and where will the failed F1 drivers go, the sports car series will not allow them to enter, maybe the Nascar and Indy may be available, I'm not sure of their tie up with the FIA.
 
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I get the point you're making however the licensing system you're talking about would only be an issue if a driver was banned from returning to an FIA licenced series. I still think it would be legally overcome.

According to this article the FIA do not regulate Indy Racing or NASCAR. It talks of this being the reason why the FIA decides to give fewer super licence qualifying points to drivers who do well in those series.

apnews.com

Column: FIA license system needs overhaul for U.S. racing

The FIA is reportedly considering offering American driver Colton Herta an exemption to receive the Super License he needs to compete in Formula One.
apnews.com apnews.com
 
cider_and_toast said:
I get the point you're making however the licensing system you're talking about would only be an issue if a driver was banned from returning to an FIA licenced series. I still think it would be legally overcome.

According to this article the FIA do not regulate Indy Racing or NASCAR. It talks of this being the reason why the FIA decides to give fewer super licence qualifying points to drivers who do well in those series.

apnews.com

Column: FIA license system needs overhaul for U.S. racing

The FIA is reportedly considering offering American driver Colton Herta an exemption to receive the Super License he needs to compete in Formula One.
apnews.com apnews.com
Click to expand
I still think it a very complicated and expensive foray for FOM to breakaway, either they have there own circuits or find circuits that are happy to not hold FIA licensed events, also drivers that are happy to be excluded from the current championships and therefore will have to run their own lower formulas and series. I'm sure that FOM will claim that the FIA is operating an illegal monopoly and the FIA will claim it's a safety matter and that FOM circuits do not comply for all formulas and series, and neither has the FOM proved that their licensed drivers do comply with the standards that the FIA has proved and improved over many years to enable safe racing.
Probably the biggest problem for a breakaway is the drivers and teams both will want more cash and a larger say in the FOM operation, that will be a no no for the FOM.
Basically it's an expensive minefield for both organisations and won't happen for many years but possibly some compromise will be arranged due to cost.
 
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Dartman said:
I still think it a very complicated and expensive foray for FOM to breakaway, either they have there own circuits or find circuits that are happy to not hold FIA licensed events, also drivers that are happy to be excluded from the current championships and therefore will have to run their own lower formulas and series. I'm sure that FOM will claim that the FIA is operating an illegal monopoly and the FIA will claim it's a safety matter and that FOM circuits do not comply for all formulas and series, and neither has the FOM proved that their licensed drivers do comply with the standards that the FIA has proved and improved over many years to enable safe racing.
Probably the biggest problem for a breakaway is the drivers and teams both will want more cash and a larger say in the FOM operation, that will be a no no for the FOM.
Basically it's an expensive minefield for both organisations and won't happen for many years but possibly some compromise will be arranged due to cost.
Click to expand
2026 Concorde agreement is going to have fireworks
 

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