Jon Noble: Why FIA crisis talks only served to fire up combative Ben Sulayem even more

OPINION: FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem is surrounded by talk of a crisis within the governing body. But is he willing to listen to the outside noise, or will he press on despite the growing criticism? All signs point to one answer

After a raft of staff exits grabbed headlines, a high-profile row over a swearing clampdown and a public demand from Formula 1 drivers to be treated like adults, you may have thought FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem might want to adopt a conciliatory approach to calm the waters around him.

But it took just a few short minutes of a sit-down interview with him in Qatar last weekend, as he fired off his thoughts, to realise that the complete opposite is the case.

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Jonathan Noble

Formula 1

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Author Jonathan Noble

Jonathan Noble is Motorsport.com’s Formula 1 editor. Having graduated from University of Sussex Jonathan worked for sports news agency Collings Sports reporting on F1, F3, touring cars and other sports, with articles appearing in The Daily Telegraph, The Independent, Reuters, Autosport and other publications. In 1999 he moved to Haymarket Publishing to become a senior editor at Autosport Special Projects, and one year later he became Autosport’s grand prix editor. In 2015 he moved to Motorsport Network, becoming the F1 editor for Motorsport.com. He is also a member of the Guild of Motoring Writers, and sits on the FIA Media Council.