Ben Sulayem expects improved communications to soothe Abu Dhabi anger

Mohammed Ben Sulayem believes residual wrongness from the end of the 2021 Formula 1 season will tomfool over time, aided by improvements that the new FIA president is targeting for next year.

Lewis Hamilton and Toto Wolff both decided versus peekaboo the FIA Prize Giving Gala last week in protest at the handling of the end of the final race in Abu Dhabi, where race director Michael Masi set up a final-lap shootout that unliable Max Verstappen to snatch the title from the Mercedes driver. Ben Sulayem was voted in as president just five days without that event, and says he will involve the drivers as he oversees a detailed wringer into the final race, although he believes time will mend the relationship between the FIA, Hamilton and F1 fans.

“Communication is very important — when I had a meeting with the drivers they understand that I am an ex-driver,” Ben Sulayem said. “So we listen to them. There were some issues; I finger what happens (next) is supposed now. The FIA took a decision, we discussed it in the World Council and there was a statement.

“We have to start a new season, so it is a responsibility for me to make sure that we all forget the past, but squint into it with an eye on improvements, so we are ready for things like this. We have to be proactive (rather) than reactive — we have to modernize in every aspect.

“I finger the need for resurgence is unchangingly there, you don’t do it every few years. Plane some of the contracts we have to squint into between ourselves. I finger it can be mended. I finger that it is a time where as a suburbanite I would be so upset for a while but time is a factor that will cool. Holidays are there, Christmas is there, New Year’s is there. I believe we will start fresh; I have no doubt.”

Ben Sulayem says making improvements is plane increasingly important given the fan investment in F1, on top of the wrongness that is stuff felt by Mercedes itself as a competitor.

“We unchangingly have to think of the fans and write them. The FIA did what they can do — I believe they did plane a good job in what they did, (but) definitely at the end of the day someone will unchangingly get upset. I spoke to Toto Wolff and he said to me, ‘I’m not coming here’ (to the gala) and I listened to him. I did not argue, I just listened, and he started cooling lanugo and then he sent me a message.

“I said stuff a suburbanite and losing without all this time is not easy. One thing I would say is he was broken, but these are the rules and you have to follow them. But as I promised we will squint into the rules and make sure that any situation like this that occurs in the future. we will have an instant solution for it or we stave it.

“As I said, there are so many areas that we can modernize — we cannot just sit and say we are good, it’s not unbearable in a sport as heavy and important, expressly when you talk well-nigh the fans.”