Guenther Steiner: FIA president ‘sometimes gets involved too much’ in F1

Former Haas team principal Guenther Steiner said FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem “sometimes gets involved too much in the sport”, and believes he should have others around him “doing the job for him”.

Ben Sulayem recently claimed the FIA “never get the credit” for the recent success of Formula 1 and wider motorsport, and has been outspoken in his criticism of Formula 1 drivers swearing on team radio.

Guenther Steiner: FIA president ‘sometimes gets involved too much in the sport’

Ben Sulayem, a 14-time Middle East Rally champion, took on the FIA presidency in 2021 from Jean Todt and has been at the helm during a time of enormous success for Formula 1, with the FIA having opened up an Expressions of Interest process under his instruction in 2023 for prospective Formula 1 teams to potentially expand the grid – though Formula One Management eventually rejected Andretti-Cadillac’s bid when talks advanced.

The former Haas team boss explained that, while he has a good personal relationship with Ben Sulayem, his approach to the FIA presidency is such that “he doesn’t do himself any favour” by getting involved in the sporting side of things, despite the FIA being Formula 1’s governing body.

“With Mohammed, I know Mohammed a very long time,” Steiner told the Sky F1 podcast.

“He comes from rallying, I come from rallying, I spent quite a lot of time together with him and, as a person, I like Mohammed. I always liked him.

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“He’s actually a good character, but as a president, I think sometimes he gets involved too much into the sport, you know, and I think he doesn’t do himself any favour with that.

“You have to have people which run the organisation, because it’s a big job being a president of a federation like the FIA, and if you get involved in the day-to-day running, I don’t think there’s the time there to do it at the level it needs to be done.

“He just, in my opinion, should have good people around him doing the job for him, and he always gets involved in it, and therefore sometimes he’s critiqued.

“If you’re in these positions, you need to get used to being critiqued. You cannot be always just, ‘oh, how good you are.’ No.

“I mean, if you get praised, you also get criticism, and that is when you’re a public figure. That is part of it, but you need to live with that.

“You cannot be everybody’s friend. I mean, that is just not going to happen, not even me.”

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