Historic footage: This is how FIA boss Ben Sulayem crashed an F1 car

Mohammed Ben Sulayem got to test an F1 car in the grey past, but it didn't go down too well for the current FIA president. Take a quick look back at the footage of what was an expensive hit.

FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem reportedly managed to provoke irritation (not for the first time) among the 20 Formula 1 drivers last week. These are said to be particularly outraged by a list of sanctions drawn up by the FIA if drivers verbally discredit the motorsport federation. So if anything became clear in recent days, it was that the drivers and the FIA - especially president Ben Sulayem - are not on the same page.

A short race in an F1 car

Yet Ben Sulayem always prides himself on fully understanding drivers, since he invariably claims to be a driver himself. Indeed, the Emirati was a creditable rally driver, without being truly world-class. The then young Ben Sulayem never made a career in single-seaters, although he was once allowed to drive a Formula 1 car.

That was in 2011, when he took on a Ford GT car in a Renault F1 car at the Dubai Autodrome. The race did not last very long, as even on the first straight Ben Sulayem crashed his F1 car hard into the wall - causing the costly damage.

Incidentally, it is unknown whether Ben Sulayem was swearing after the accident.

The crash of Mohammed Ben Sulayem

This article was written in collaboration with Norberto Mujica.

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