Formula One ruler Mohammed ben Sulayem caused astonishment within the sport when he used Twitter to claim the series wasn’t worth $20billion – an intervention that raised questions over whether he had exceeded his role as regulator. Despite the uncorroborated nature of the claims, Ben Sulayem tweeted: ‘As the custodians of motorsport, the FIA, as a non-profit organisation, is cautious about alleged inflated price tags of $20bn being put on F1. However, other senior figures in Formula One privately asked whether Ben Sulayem had overreached by going public with his view on a commercial matter, given that the FIA are meant to regulate the sport rather than involve themselves in its business interests.

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