Mohammed Ben Sulayem has sidelined himself from the day-to-day running on the F1 side of the sport with Nikolaz Tombazis the point of contact.
Ever since Sulayem took charge as the FIA President, he has been under fire not just individually but also as the head of the governing body. How the 2021 F1 championship ended created much drama which forced into multiple changes.
A F1 Race Control was set-up with two Race Directors being appointed on an alternate basis, while the whole structure has been rectified for better judgement. Outside that, the point of new teams wanting to join has been a point of debate.
Sulayem has not only been vocal about new teams, but also the alleged sale price of F1 going into billions. The Formula One Management heads took a stern view of it as they asked him to not interfere in the commercial matters of the sport.
These controversies has likely pushed Sulayem to move away from the day-to-day involvement after he sent a letter to the teams noting of the change where FIA single-seater head Tombazis will be the point of contact for the F1 teams.
“My stated objective was to be a non-executive president via the recruitment of a team of professional managers, which has now been largely completed,” wrote Sulayem in a letter as accessed by Sky Sports F1.
“Therefore, going forward, your day-to-day contact for all matters on F1 will be with Nikolas (Tombazis, director of single-seater racing) and his team, while I will focus on strategic matters with my leadership team.”
Meanwhile, the FIA statement on the matter read as: “The president’s manifesto clearly set out this plan before he was elected – it pledged the appointment of an FIA CEO to provide an integrated and aligned operation, as well as to introduce a revised governance framework under a leadership team focused on transparency, democracy, and growth.
“These goals, as well as the announcement of the new structure of the single-seater department, have been planned since the beginning of this presidency. The FIA president has a wide remit that covers the breadth of global motor sport and mobility, and now that the structural reorganisation in Formula 1 is complete, this is a natural next step.”
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