The FIA have responded to reports regarding historical sexist comments made by President Mohammed Ben Sulayem. Ben Sulayem's comments appeared in a news article from The Times , who referred to a now-archived website called mohammedbensulayem.com, a website which appears to be predominantly used in his motorsport racing career. On this website, a ‘likes & dislikes’ feature included comments from Ben Sulayem which said he does not like "women who think they are smarter than men, for they are not in truth". The unearthing of the comments comes after a turbulent couple of weeks for the FIA President, who received a bullish response from Formula 1 after commenting on a potential sale of the sport. The FIA and F1 also have differing views on the potential addition of the Andretti team to the Formula 1 grid.
The FIA responded to the publication of the historical comments and pointed to the FIA current drive for equality in motorsport. “The remarks in this archived website from 2001 do not reflect the FIA President’s beliefs," the FIA spokesperson said. "He has a strong record on promoting women and equality in sport, which he is happy to be judged on. "It was a central part of his manifesto and actions taken this year and the many years he served as FIA Vice President for Sport prove this.” The FIA's current actions toward equality include the creation of the FIA Girls On Track programme, along with the FIA Women in Motorsport Commission. Women have been appointed in key roles within the FIA in recent years, including Natalie Robyn as CEO, and Tanya Kutsenko as the global motorsport body's first equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) advisor.
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