FIA president inherited a $20m deficit and a court case when he took over

FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem had to put out a few fires when he took the reins of Formula 1's governing body last year.

Ben Sulayem became president of the FIA in December 2021 and did so at a controversial time with the governing body under scrutiny following the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

The end of the 2022 season has been a little easier for the 61-year-old and the FIA, but he has now revealed that one of his first tasks was to fill a US$20m deficit, as well as an ongoing court case.

The court case was regarding the halo, which was fitted to all F1 cars from the 2018 season. But a suit was filed in the United States over a potential patent infringement by the FIA brought about by its inventor, Jens H. S. Nygaard.

Filing a hole

With the expenses used to cover that as well as a need to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic, Ben Sulayem said there was a $20 million hole that needed filling and explained that is why the FIA took on its first CEO.

"There was a financial issue that we didn't know about," he said, as reported by Motorsport.com. "We had a deficit, even before the pandemic, but I'm pleased to have cleared that.

"We never had a CEO for 118 years, and if we want to deal with the challenges that are going on, I cannot go and micromanage.

"When you go to the CEO, you're talking about policies, you're talking about managing the structure, you're talking about [the] day-to-day running of the FIA, and you're talking about the finance.

"We all know, and I'll be very honest with you, we had an issue with the finance. We had a deficit this year, which was over $20 million.

"I'm very happy to know that even with it, we never stopped any of the support of the grants or the efficiency of the FIA towards any ASN (Autorite Sportive