SEPANG — The Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) must be prepared to respond to unexpected disruptions — including geopolitical instability — through risk management and assessment, said its president, Mohammed Ben Sulayem.
He said major disruptions are not new to the world motorsport governing body, citing the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic as well as wars and instability in some regions.
“I believe the FIA has to be ready for something like this. You cannot just expect the unexpected,” he told a media roundtable with selected Malaysian media here today.
The 65-year-old Emirati said the FIA has risk management and risk assessment mechanisms in place to deal with unexpected situations, which could also arise from natural causes.
Ben Sulayem was responding to a question on how the conflict in West Asia has changed the economics and operations of global motorsport, as well as concerns over its longer-term implications, including logistics, insurance costs and the viability of staging major championships in the region.
He said the governing body could not allow external circumstances to continually dictate the course of the sport.
“Are we ready for the unexpected? I hope so. There are things that happen naturally from time to time, but we cannot allow them to control us,” he said.
Ben Sulayem pointed to the staging of the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia as an example of how the wider motorsport community could work together in response to disruption.
“What happened here, you see, is a message being sent by motorsport — by Bahrain, Malaysia, the FIA, Formula One Management (FOM), the drivers and the whole motorsport family coming together.
“Sport is about making progress, and it cannot be influenced by whoever is trying to destabilise our region. I am, if you ask me, very proud of what is happening here,” he added.
The 2026 Bahrain Grand Prix was supposed to take place on April 10-12. However, following the disruption arising from the West Asia conflict, it was held at the Sepang International Circuit on Oct 2-4.
