New FIA President: I sent a message to Hamilton, but he hasn't returned

Fiafa's new president, Mohammed bin Surayem, revealed that he had tried to communicate with Lewis Hamilton ahead of the 2022 season.

Hamilton has been completely silent on everything since the controversial Abu Dhabi finale ended, but has made two public appearances since earning the British jazz title and returning to Mercedes base to say goodbye to his team-mate Walteri Bottas.

At the FIA, Jean Todd completed his third four-year term, with Ben Sulayem succeeding him as chairman. One of Bin Sulayem's actions since taking office has been to get in touch with the seven-time world champion, however, he is still waiting for a response from Hamilton, who and Mercedes-led Toto Wolff chose to snub the FIA awards gala at the end of the season.

At the start of the 2022 Dakar Rally in Jeddah, Ben Sulayem said: "I sent him a message and I don't think he's 100% ready to respond now, we don't blame him, I understand his position, as a driver, obviously, he's at a different level but also has to play by the rules. For me, it doesn't have a particular relationship with a certain driver or a certain team, it's general. We have to follow some rules and we have to respect the FIA. I can't judge anyone until I know the exact facts, in fact, my first goal was to go through the archives of the whole of Abu Dhabi. I certainly think That Lewis and his team knew it was time to come to the party, but at the end of the day, we were human beings too, with stress and emotions. ”

Bin Surayem believes that all parties can move forward after the events in Abu Dhabi and help set a better example in the future.

He continued: "Personally, I believe that everything will pass, you can't always think about the past, we always have to look to the future. ”