Mohammed Ben Sulayem declares bid for second term as FIA president
Speaking to Reuters at the Monaco Grand Prix, the Emirati said he had taken the decision, which was widely assumed, after conferring with members of the International Automobile Federation.
"I feel having three years in a complex federation like the FIA is not enough," the 63-year-old former rally driver explained, stating his re-election bid openly for the first time.
He said he was proud of what had been achieved under his mandate and saw no reason to do anything differently second time around.
"Do I need more time? Yes. Has it been easy? Never. Has it been enjoyable? Sometimes.
"So, I am going (to stand). I consulted with most of the members. I speak to them."
The Emirati said he wanted to "keep growing motorsport. To make the FIA stronger and stronger. This is my ambition and that's what I will do.".
He suggested the FIA, which ultimately owns the Formula One championship although the long-term commercial rights are held by Liberty Media, had been "neglected".
"Raw deals have been given to the FIA. It doesn't make sense to me that one (Formula One) driver and one team principal make more money than all of the FIA, and the FIA owns the championship. Is that fair?," he said.
Ben Sulayem's first term has been marked by controversy since he was elected in 2021 as successor to former Ferrari team boss Jean Todt.
There have been battles with Liberty Media over commercial matters and accusations of sexism, and he has angered drivers in both rallying and Formula One by clamping down on swearing with heavy fines.
Senior staff have left the FIA, leading to reports of an exodus, and there have been questions raised about statute changes that critics say will limit the powers of audit and ethics committees.
On the plus side, the FIA last week reported a 4.7 million euro ($5.34 million) profit after reporting a loss of 24 million euros in 2021.
A new "Concorde Agreement" between all Formula One stakeholders is being negotiated and both the FIA and Liberty Media say talks are going well.
Former FIA secretary general for motorsport Shaila-Ann Rao, one of the high-profile departees, has returned as an advisor to the president, and Cadillac will join as an 11th team in 2026 after FIA backing in the face of initial F1 resistance.
"I cleaned up the FIA house," said Ben Sulayem, who recognised there were enemies who wanted him out but said that was of no concern.
"Honest people are there. My back is not anymore with knives in it.
"All of this negativity; 'Oh, he's unpredictable, he's very controversial'. I am the last one who cares what they (the critics and media) do, what they say. To me it is always about the (FIA) members.
"But I am more than happy. Maybe I am doing something that irritates them."
No rival candidate has committed to standing against the Emirati, although twice world rally champion Carlos Sainz -- father of the Formula One driver and namesake -- is considering doing so.
Ben Sulayem said he would be happy for Sainz to stand and it would be for others to decide on any potential conflict of interest.
"Let him stand. That is democracy," he said.
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The Guardian
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Bob Simpson obituary
They call it 'catching swallows', the capacity to sight from the edge of a cricket bat a five-and-a-half ounce missile, often propelled at 90 miles per hour, and then, a fraction of a second later – only a few yards away, and with bare hands – pluck it from the air. It requires the reactions of a Formula One driver, the eyes of a hawk, the concentration of a chess grandmaster, and a perfect catching technique. From it emerges a mental picture of a supreme fielder diving from his habitual position at first slip to take yet another stunner for Australia. In the history of international cricket, there has been no more spectacularly efficient slip-fielder than Bob Simpson, who has died aged 89. In 62 Test matches for Australia between 1957 and 1978, he took 110 catches, a success rate of 0.94 per innnings, unmatched not just for his country, but anywhere before or since. It was his astounding catching that defined him as a cricketer, but he was a gifted all-rounder, too. He formed the most consistently productive of all Australian opening partnerships, with Bill Lawry; he was the first player since Don Bradman to make a triple century for his country, which he managed against England in 1964; and he twice took five wickets in an innings with his legbreaks and googlies. In all Tests, he made 4,869 runs at an average of 46.81, with 10 centuries, and took 71 wickets at 42.26 apiece. Other Australian pairings have provided more aggregate runs than Simpson and Lawry, and certainly there have been those considerably more spectacular than that grindingly efficient pair. Their alliance provided an average 60.95 runs over the 62 times they went to the wicket together. Previously in the game's history, the England partnerships between Jack Hobbs and Herbert Sutcliffe averaged an astonishing 87.81, and that between Hobbs and Wilfred Rhodes 61.31. Over a period of more than four decades, however, Simpson's contribution to Australian cricket was multifaceted. He captained Australia in 39 Tests, including a spell of 10 matches in the mid-1970s when, aged 41, he emerged from retirement to lead the team during the hiatus caused by Kerry Packer's World Series Cricket. He became Australia's first full time coach, transforming, through hard work and iron discipline, a rag-bag side into the best team in the world. He also worked in the media as a columnist and commentator, and as a committee man with the International Cricket Council. Simpson was born in Sydney, to Scottish immigrant parents, Sarah (nee Duncan) and William, and raised in the suburb of Marrickville. His father, known as Jock, was a printer who had played football for Stenhousemuir in the Scottish League. Bob's older brothers, Bill and Jack, encouraged him to play cricket, although he was also good at golf, tennis, baseball, squash and football during his schooldays at Tempe high school. In the 1952-53 season, while still more than a fortnight shy of his 17th birthday, he made his first class debut, for New South Wales against Victoria, the second youngest player ever to be selected for the state. Limited opportunity meant that it was two years until he scored his maiden first-class century, 104 against Victoria, as a middle order batsman, and he spent four seasons from 1956-57 with Western Australia. He toured New Zealand with Australia in 1957 and then South Africa the following winter, making his Test debut in the first Test in Johannesburg. His early Test career was unconvincing, however, and it was the great Australian left-hander Neil Harvey who advised him to try opening the batting. It coincided with an altered technique to help cope with the fast short delivery. It was in the fourth Test at Old Trafford in 1961 that he began his partnership with Lawry – the ground on which, three years later, and by then Australia captain, he was to register his first Test century and start the transformation from a modest batsman to a very fine one. By this point, Simpson had reached his 30th Test, and his career average stood at a modest 35.93. Now, though, he marked it by batting for more than 13 hours, longer than any Australian had managed in first-class cricket, to make an unbeaten 311 – an innings that scarcely pleased the spectators (the match, in which each side batted the other into oblivion, was one of the dullest of all draws), but which ensured Australia retained the Ashes. It transformed him: for the second half of his career, he averaged 50.89. By the end of the 1967-68 season, following a home series against India, Simpson had decided to retire to pursue a career in journalism and public relations. 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He took over a young side, and through the same ethos of strong discipline and hard work that sustained his own career, he transformed them over the next decade into a formidable team, winning the 1987 World Cup in India – something which proved a catalyst for future success – regaining the Ashes in England in 1989, and, with the West Indies suffering their first series defeat in 15 years in 1994-95, now heading the finest side in the world. He left his Australian role in 1996 and acted as a consultant to India, coached the Netherlands and then Lancashire (2000-2001), having previously in the county championship coached Leicestershire. His final legacy, and an important one, will be his contribution to the ICC committee formed in 2001 to combat the increase in illegal bowling actions. In 2004 he was strongly critical of the ICC, arguing that it was soft; in continuing to sanction dubious actions, he said, it was nurturing more of them through imitation. A decade on, and his prescience finally bore fruit. Simpson was named Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1965. He was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 1985, the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame in 2006 and the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame in 2013. He was made a member of the Order of Australia in 1978, promoted to officer in 2007. He received an Australian Sports Medal in 2000 and a Centenary Medal in 2001. In 1958 he married Meg McCarthy, and they had two daughters, Kim and Debbie. Robert Baddeley Simpson, cricketer and journalist, born 3 February 1936; died 16 August 2025
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