'Completely unacceptable!' F1 fans fume after FIA president's shock Lando Norris greeting

Norris with Ben Sulayem at FIA Prize Giving Ceremony — Photo: © IMAGO

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'Completely unacceptable!' F1 fans fume after FIA president's shock Lando Norris greeting

Mohammed Ben Sulayem was recently re-elected

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Sunday 14 December 2025 09:59

FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem has been called out by F1 fans on social media for ruffling world champion Lando Norris' hair on two occasions in the last week.

Ben Sulayem has recently been re-elected as FIA president, meaning that he will serve the next four years as the president having originally taken on the job back in 2021.

He was the only candidate on the ballot, after a quirk in the rules prevented other candidates from entering the official race to become president.

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That was because all presidential candidates had to name one person from all the FIA global regions as their vice president selection by an October deadline, but there was only one South American on the official list, who was already on Ben Sulayem's side.

Now, after ruffling up new world champion Norris' hair in the cooldown room at the Abu Dhabi GP, Ben Sulayem has been criticised on social media for doing the same thing at the FIA prize giving gala in Uzbekistan last night.

The awards ceremony brought together personnel from all of the FIA's racing series across the globe, with Norris picking up his drivers' championship trophy, and F3 and F2 champions Rafael Camara and Leonardo Fornaroli also being recognised for their exploits.

But it's Ben Sulayem's actions that have been a hot topic of conversation on social media following the ceremony.

One user said: "Dude he grabbed his hair in the Abu Dhabi cooldown room too. This is completely unacceptable. He’s treating him like a kid or a pet."

Another simply commented: "How rude!", while another said: "Really odd behaviour. It was bad enough that he ruffled his hair the first time, but then he went back and did it again."

However, one user suggested that Ben Sulayem was just playfully mocking the people who had called him out for doing it in Abu Dhabi: "It seems like he’s just joking. He grabbed his hair to mock the people who were upset about him doing it earlier."

Villars taking legal action

Laura Villars was one of the candidates hoping to challenge Ben Sulayem in the election this year, but was not able to in the end, and has started legal action to try and get the result overturned.

Villars' court date on February 16 next year will focus on her challenge of the FIA electoral process, which essentially led to just one candidate - Ben Sulayem - standing for election.

Villars, Tim Mayer and Virginie Philippot had all intended to stand against Ben Sulayem, but the candidates' inability to put together the required slate of potential vice-presidents from an official list of 29 by an October deadline meant that they could not stand.

Villars is alleging that this process is unfair, and the Swiss racing driver is attempting to go about changing it, questioning "the compliance of the electoral procedures with the FIA's stated principles of governance, democracy, and integrity."

F1 FIA Lando Norris Mohammed Ben Sulayem