The Most Famous
RACING DRIVERS from United Arab Emirates
This page contains a list of the greatest Emirati Racing Drivers. The pantheon dataset contains 1,080 Racing Drivers, 1 of which were born in United Arab Emirates. This makes United Arab Emirates the birth place of the 43rd most number of Racing Drivers behind Zimbabwe, and Chile.
Top 1
The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Emirati Racing Drivers of all time. This list of famous Emirati Racing Drivers is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography's online popularity.
1. Mohammed Ben Sulayem (b. 1961)
With an HPI of 64.52, Mohammed Ben Sulayem is the most famous Emirati Racing Driver. His biography has been translated into 20 different languages on wikipedia.
Mohammed Ahmad Sultan Ben Sulayem (Arabic: محمد بن سليم; born 12 November 1961) is an Emirati former rally driver and motorsports executive who serves as president of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), the governing body of many auto racing events including Formula One. Ben Sulayem began his career as a rally driver in the 1980s. He became one of the most successful Middle East Rally Championship drivers, winning 14 titles. In 2005, he became the President of the Emirates Motorsports Organization, the representative of the United Arab Emirates in the FIA. In 2008, he was elected as a Vice President for sport and a member of the FIA World Motor Sport Council. He was key to organizing the first Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in 2009. In 2012, he was among the founding members and chairman of FIA sub-region of Arab Council of Touring and Automobile Clubs. In December 2021, he was appointed as FIA President, succeeding Jean Todt. As President of the FIA, Ben Sulayem oversaw the restructuring of race control in 2022. In 2024, Ben Sulayem was subject to whistleblower complaints involving the certification of the Las Vegas Strip Circuit, and attempting to intervene in the results of the 2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. In 2025, he was criticized for driver punishments regarding misconduct and poor governance. In September 2024, Ben Sulayem was appointed as UN Tourism's Ambassador for Sustainable Tourism in the Sport category in recognition of his efforts in integrating sustainability into global motorsport.
People
Pantheon has 1 people classified as Emirati racing drivers born between 1961 and 1961. Of these 1, 1 (100.00%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Emirati racing drivers include Mohammed Ben Sulayem. As of April 2024, 1 new Emirati racing drivers have been added to Pantheon including Mohammed Ben Sulayem.
