Mohammed Ben Sulayem is the current President of the FIA, F1’s all-seeing all powerful governing body and regulator. Many if not all teams operating in Formula One are deeply unhappy with Ben Sulayem at the moment. The center of the current storm slowly engulfing F1 is over Ben Sulayem’s support for a new American team to enter the sport. Andretti Cadillac has submitted an expression of interest to form an F1 team. However, the current crop of teams from the front row right the way down to the back of the grid does not support the Andretti Cadillac bid. The reasons are very simple, it’s all about money.

The commercial rights signed between the FIA and F1 teams is locked and would have to be unlocked to add a new team. If this did occur F1 teams could view the FIA as breaching contractual obligations and lacking in good faith. A lot of money is distributed annually, be it for prize money, a share of broadcast revenue or trademark rights. Adding another F1 team to the grid would mean the amount of money each team receives would decrease.

With the budget cap agreed and locked in place, F1 team bosses are fuming at Ben Sulayem for what they see as breaching contractual clauses when it suits him and his agenda. The is a lot to criticize Ben Sulayem for and about, and we do. But recently the Sunday Times launched a smear campaign against Sulayem in an article that outed his alleged misogynistic views from 20 years ago. Yes, the Rupert Murdoch owned Sunday Times and currently employs the misogynist Jeremy Clarkson.

The levels of hypocrisy on display by F1 teams and that Sunday Times hit-job smear article is orbital. They are totally lacking in self-awareness from The Sunday Times, Mercedes, Red Bull, and whoever else decided to collaborate in that garbage article formerly known as journalism.

Yes, Ben Sulyeman made what is considered misogynistic statements 20 years, but if they were known about why has it taken so long for his views to be outed?

It’s a very easy question to answer, F1 teams want Ben Sulyeman out and will do anything to get rid of him. Launching a media-driven smear campaign is easier, less costly and more time-consuming than taking legal action over a potential breach of contractual obligations.