© Wolfgang Wilhelm for Daimler AG
FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem says he was “overwhelmed with problems” and “wondered what was going on” after the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
At the controversial 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Max Verstappen managed to beat Lewis Hamilton for the world championship, after race director Michael Masi ignored and altered the rules which govern the use of the Safety Car.
The intervention allowed Verstappen to overtake Hamilton on the last lap of the race, making for a nail-biting finish to an exciting season.
In reality, Lewis had no chance against Verstappen, since the race director’s intervention allowed the Dutch driver to have fresh Soft tyres, while Hamilton was on worn down Hards.
In the immediate aftermath of that race, Jean Todt’s tenure as FIA President came to an end, as a new president – Mohammed Ben Sulayem – has been elected.
The FIA, under Ben Sulayem, then announced the launch of an investigation into what happened in Abu Dhabi, and this ultimately led to Masi being removed from his race director role.
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Now, in a talk with Motorsport-Magazin.com, Ben Sulayem describes how he approached the immediate aftermath of the controversial race.
“I will never say that everything went well in this race,” Ben Sulayem said.
“I always look at areas to improve. I thought to myself: ‘Wait a minute, let me first see what is going on. I just won the election, let me enjoy that first.’
“Then we looked at the issue. I’ll be honest: I hate being reactive. I always say: if you don’t plan, you fail. Have a plan for everything!
“I was overwhelmed with problems. I wondered what was going on. We have a better structure with the strengthening of the department in the single-seaters, so there will be fewer problems.
“But drivers will always demand things,” he concluded.
