[Teutone]

My nephew was for years ass race director (for the track owners) of the Yas Marina circuit, and had his team at Dubai Autodrome, If you search youtube, there is a video of ben Sulayem demonstrating a F1 race car, accelerating from the grid and badly crashing the car a few hundred yards down the straight. He was said to be an alcoholic.

Between Aramco and Bahrain, McLaren is majority Arab owned. They even had to sell their impressive headquarters, and lease it back.

from 1:30 Dubai Autodrome apx 2010

 

[Teutone]

Joe Saward's opinion in one of the best F1 blogs out there joeblogsf1

AMS Michael Schmidt might have attended more F1 races. On youtube as Formel Schmidt.

 

[Teutone]

Vultures begin circling…

German media report 'Liberty want to replace Mohammed Ben Sulayem with David Richards' — PlanetF1.com

Liberty Media are rumoured to have a preferred option to the current FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem...

apple.news

Richards would be a good choice imo. He was with his team @ Dakar Rally Dec 31 - Jan 15.

 

[Teutone]

Anonymous team boss on FIA president: 'Everyone thinks he's got to go' — PlanetF1.com

Whatever happens next, it's "going to be pretty interesting..."

apple.news

If wishes were horse,.....
Watch 'The Brabham Boys' on youtube. When Bernie Ecclestone bought the commercial right of F1, he went to all Formula 1 team bosses, to offer the shares at a fairly low price,.. he found no takers.
F1 teams have far less influence than Liberty Media, the commercial right holders, plus a number of F1 teams have large Bahraini, UAE, and Saudi shareholders. Going back further, the Ojjeh family was said to be at one time the bag men for the Saudis. They are supposed to get a percentage for every bit of ammunition and armaments sold to KSA to this day.
Their TAG group (Techniques d'Avant Garde) was founded 1977 in Luxembourg by Akram Ojjeh. The company was always involved in motor racing, with Porsche, the Williams team, was even an F1 engine manufacturer. Mansour Ojjeh made a deal with Ron Dennis in the 1980's. After the passing of Mansour Ojjeh, the family company still holds 14% of McLaren, plus stakes in McLaren technologies and their car brand.

Would Graham Stoker, who continues in his role as deputy pres, been the better choice, who knows? Ben Sulayem got 61% vs Stoker's 39% of the votes. To what extent Arab $ influenced the vote, is open to speculation. Both men have been active in various roles within the FIA for decades, and are both qualified.

 

[Teutone]

There is no doubt in my mind if F1 is being sold for Billions of Dollars, over the price that Liberty paid for it, that the
sanctioning fees , and of course the ticket prices to attend a F1 race, will go up accordingly. (Look at Las Vegas
prices under Liberty ownership for this years race) Mohammed Ben Sulayem is correct in pointing this out, even if
F1 does not like it...

For preferred subtitle Language YouTube ( CC ) Subtitle Language Choices

Formula 1: Yes to Ford, no to General Motors with Andretti - why? | Formula Schmidt

 

[Teutone]

Michael Schmidt certainly knows his business....Excellent and clear explanations.

+ 1, I am a fan. There can be less that a handful of fellow motor sport journalists, who have visited more F1 races than Michael Schmidt. Auto motor und sport has started one or two (German and English) youtube channels besides Formel Schmidt. I have been a reader of ams & sportauto for more than 50 years, and spent a small fortune on airmail, to get them in W-Africa and Iran. With everything available at their fingertips, its so much easier to follow the sport, but some of the me generation fans might still complain about the video quality they are watching for free.

There is another video with ams Andrew Haupt in the Red Bull thread.