Lewis Hamilton accuses FIA president of racial prejudice after ‘rapper’ comment

Lewis Hamilton has accused FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem of using racially charged language in calling for Formula One drivers to stop acting “like rappers”.

Ben Sulayem, 62, told Autosport that drivers should stop swearing so much over the radio. “We have to differentiate between our sport – motorsport – and rap music,” said the Emirati, whose tenure has been marked by controversy.

“We’re not rappers, you know. They say the f-word how many times per minute? We are not on that. That’s them and we are [us].”

Speaking ahead of this weekend’s race in Singapore, Hamilton said he believed there was a “racial element” to Ben Sulayem’s remarks.

“With what he [Ben Sulayem] said, I don’t like how he has expressed it,” the seven-time world champion said. “Saying ‘rappers’, is very stereotypical. If you think about it, most rappers are black, so it says ‘we are not like them’. So I think those are the wrong choice of words and there is a racial element there.”

The FIA has been contacted for a response.

Ben Sulayem, who was elected FIA president in December 2021, has been involved in a string of controversies. He took over in the immediate wake of the season-ending 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix where Max Verstappen was awarded his maiden world title at Hamilton’s expense.

The FIA’s handling of that affair, which ended with the governing body dismissing its own race director after what it called a “human error”, caused a major rift with Mercedes and team principal Toto Wolff in particular.

Ben Sulayem has also had a strained relationship with Formula One and the sport’s owners, Liberty Media.

He stepped back from “day-to-day involvement” in F1 last year.

There was also a bungled episode last winter when the FIA launched a short-lived investigation into Wolff and his wife, F1 Academy managing director Susie Wolff, over an alleged conflict of interest.

Earlier this year, Ben Sulayem was cleared by his own organisation’s ethics committee after he was accused of meddling with the result of last year’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix and attempting to block the certification of F1’s £500 million Las Vegas Grand Prix.

Mercedes driver has previously clashed with FIA president

Hamilton, who had a long-running duel with Ben Sulayem over the wearing of jewellery in his Mercedes cockpit, claimed then that Ben Sulayem has “never” had his backing.

Ben Sulayem fined the seven-time world champion €50,000 [£42,000] for failing to attend the FIA’s prize-giving gala in the days after his defeat by Verstappen in the 2021 season finale in Abu Dhabi.

Formula One’s drivers out in Singapore have all been asked about the issue of swearing.

Hamilton said he agreed it needed “cleaning up”.

“When I was 22 I didn’t think of it as much,” said the 39 year-old, who heads to Ferrari next season. “It was more the emotions are firing and you said whatever came to mind, forgetting how many people were listening and that kids were listening.

“You listen to some of the young drivers now and they have not got that yet. At some stage they will. I am sure if they brought in penalties for it, it would stop and maybe that is something that is needed.

“I definitely think there is a little bit too much of it. I agree it needs cleaning up. But it is also good to show some emotion. We are not robots.”

Verstappen snaps back: ‘Are we five years old?’

Verstappen, who earlier this year urged critics of his radio outbursts to “turn the volume down”, was actually urged by the FIA moderator during the official preview press conference for Sunday’s Singapore race to watch his language after he described his car as “f-----” at the last round in Azerbaijan.

“Excuse me for the language but come on,” Verstappen said. “Like, what are we? Five-year-olds? Six-year-olds?

“Even if a five-year-old or six-year-old is watching, they will eventually swear anyway, even if their parents will not allow it.

“A lot of people say a lot of bad things when they are full of adrenalin in other sports. It just doesn’t get picked up.

“We’re here probably for entertainment purposes. It starts with not broadcasting it. If you don’t broadcast it, no one will know.

“It’s just probably the world that we live in. It seems like people are a bit more sensitive to stuff.”