Key to improving motorsport engagement is fan access, says Carlo Boutagy

It is an intense moment for motorsport in the Middle East. The FIA has just elected its new President Mohammed ben Sulayem from the Emirates. Between last November and March, the region is hosting five consecutive F1 Grands Prix. And with the Dakar and Extreme E in between, the center of pressure in the sport at the moment feels like it is moving east.

Antonio Felix da Costa, BMW I Andretti Motorsports, BMW iFE.18 Sébastien Buemi, Nissan e.Dams, Nissan IMO1, Jose Maria Lopez, GEOX Dragon Racing, Penske EV-3 at the start.

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

“We have plenty of FIA motorsport events in the Gulf. And having an FIA President from the region will help us a lot,” says Boutagy. “I could see it with Formula E already. We translated the whole Formula E website into Arabic. The same thing for all the social media, we have in Arabic and English, so you're seeing it grow. It's good. A lot of people think that more races in the region mean competition and they see it as not a positive thing. I see it totally different; the more the merrier, it educates the people, they are excited when a motorsport event comes into town and they understand it more. I think the FIA president is going to emphasize a lot on that.”

The Formula E race holds a special place as it was the first international event to take place in Saudi Arabia in 2018 and that meant changing the country’s laws, “It was the Berlin Wall falling for Saudi Arabia, it meant a lot more to the Saudi nationals than just another motorsport event, “ says Boutagy. “That was the first international event to change all the rules and laws of the kingdom to allow tourists to enter if they purchased a Formula E-ticket. It allowed mixed genders in the same venue,