In December last year, Mohammed bin Sulayem took over as president of the FIA. Twelve months later, he said the first problems he faced in his new position were the lawsuit against the FIA and the federation’s budget deficit of $20 million.
The lawsuit related to protecting the Halo head. One Jens Newgaard sued the FIA in the US for possible infringement of patents used in Halo. In the end, the case was settled in favor of the FIA, but it took bin Sulayem a lot of time and effort.
As for the budget deficit, the amount of $ 20 million was left behind by the previous government of the FIA. To address this issue, the FIA even introduced a new position – the first Executive Director, which was taken by Natalie Robin.
“Imagine, after so many years and attempts, I was given the position of FIA president and on the evening of December 17, I threw a party for this occasion,” said Mohammed bin Sulayem. “I arrived at the office at 10 AM the next day and the first people I met were our attorneys who briefed me on the lawsuit related to Halo.
I cannot go into details, but then I did not experience the most pleasant emotions. All I can say is that I am very happy that we closed this issue a month ago. I feel like a mountain has been lifted off my shoulders – now Halo is patented by the FIA, which is good.
Then we identified a $20 million financial gap that we didn’t know about. There was already a shortage before the pandemic, but I am happy that this problem has now been solved, although we still have to save.”
Source: F1 News
I’m Todderic Kirkman, a journalist and author for athletistic. I specialize in covering all news related to sports, ranging from basketball to football and everything in between. With over 10 years of experience in the industry, I have become an invaluable asset to my team. My ambition is to bring the most up-to-date information on sports topics around the world.
