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Sulayem spoke with Wolff as decision on Hamilton FIA Gala to be taken later

  • Darshan Chokhani
    • Mohammed Ben Sulayem, Lewis Hamilton, F1

    Newly elected FIA President Mohammen Ben Sulayem revealed that he spoke with Toto Wolff after Abu Dhabi as decision on Lewis Hamilton for skipping Gala to be taken later on.

    Barely hours after he was handed the biggest role in motor racing, Sulayem was in the line of fire with regards to the happenings in Abu Dhabi GP. While the usual stance was that the commission will look into it, but he noted that he will sit through it too.

    Wolff has faith in a better dialogue which Sulayem is confident about too. In fact, the two have exchanged messages where the Austrian did convey that he will not make it to the FIA Gala. James Allison represented Mercedes to take the constructors’ trophy.

    On Mercedes side, it is fine but with Hamilton skipping the Gala, it puts him in breach of Sporting Regulation’s Article 6.6. Usually, if someone cannot make it, there is a video message played for him/her, but in this case Hamilton did nothing of it.

    He did attend the knighting ceremony on Wednesday and is spending time at Brixworth with Valtteri Bottas today (Friday), in celebration of the eighth title. As a former driver himself, Sulayem understands his point of view, but he is bounded by rules.

    While Sulayem agrees that there will be no forgiveness if there is a breach of rules, but he added that they will look into it first and see what can be done. Being only appointed as aPresident few hours ago, he didn’t have a definitive answer to it.

    “I spoke to Toto Wolff and he said, I am not coming here [FIA Gala], I listen to him, I don’t argue, I just listen,” said Sulayem in a press conference. “When I listen, he started cooling down and then he send me some messages – I’ll be very honest – and I send some messages of being a driver and losing is not easy, one think I would say that he was broken, but these are the rules and you have to follow them.

    “As a driver, I feel emotional. At the end of the day, rules are rules. So we are going to look into the side of where the technical rules are there to be employed and was he in breach? I have to look into it. I was definitely excited about the election. There were judges and stewards who were handling it, the FIA is taking care of it but I’ll definitely look where was he – as you said – is in breach.

    “Of course, we’ll have to be also be following our rules. But in the meanwhile, it doesn’t stop us from making a champion feel good about the sport. It’s easy to be nice to people. And it is cheap to be nice. And it’s also to motivate people. But definitely, if there is any breach, there is no forgiveness in this,” summed up Sulayem.

    When pressed on to clarify if no forgiveness meant definite punishment, Sulayem added: “What I meant is that there are always rules, forgiveness is always there, but rules are rules. But we look at the rules. And I always say that rules are not made. A human made them…and they can be improved and changed by humans. So the rules are there to be improved.

    “I know that Lewis is really sad about what happened and one word I would say is he’s broken. But we have to look if there was any breach. I cannot say for now. It’s just a few hours now I’ve been a president, and I’ve just started giving answers without going back to the facts,” summed up Sulayem.

    Outgoing President Jean Todt didn’t wish to put down Mercedes or Hamilton for not coming but rather celebrate the new champions – including the German manufacturer who he reckons deserved all the credit for winning the eighth titles in a row.

    “I think tonight we should celebrate, rather than trying to get into any kind of controversy,” said Todt. “There is no point. What would it give? I think, in a way, I feel sorry, because Mercedes should have much more reward, as eight-time world champion for the manufacturers is unique. Lewis has been an amazing combination. Probably the best car, and best team and he never does a mistake.”

    https://twitter.com/MercedesAMGF1/status/1471920385864216584?s=20

    https://twitter.com/MercedesAMGF1/status/1471908053087838221?s=20

    Here’s news on Mohammed Ben Sulayem taking FIA President role

    Here’s how the FIA Gala went

    Here’s Toto Wolff on appeal drop and more

    Here’s the full statement from Mercedes

    Here’s what FIA WMSC said

    Here’s Lewis Hamilton getting formally knighted