Michael Jackson wasn’t just a pop star; he was a global sensation who influenced people all over the world, including the Middle East, where he traveled in 2005. Recently, the late musician’s Instagram account shared a picture of Jackson with FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem from this visit. However, there was an issue with the caption.
Jackson had first visited Bahrain, before going to Dubai which is where he met the future FIA boss.
The caption on the Instagram post read, “This week in 2005, Michael visited Dubai, the largest city in the United Arab Emirates. He is seen here with Formula One champion-winning driver Mohammed Ben Sulayem.”
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It was a fun throwback, but there was one problem: Ben Sulayem was never an F1 world champion. In fact, he never even drove an F1 car.
However, he did compete in several rallying championships, particularly in the Middle East. Driving for Ford and Toyota, Sulayem achieved a total of 61 international wins and 14 championships. However, he wasn’t involved in F1-related activities until he became the FIA President in 2022
Many fans spotted the errors in Jackson’s caption and joked about it online. On Reddit, one fan commented, “No Michael no! That’s so not right!” referencing Toto Wolff’s infamous radio outburst at former F1 race director Michael Masi during the Abu Dhabi 2021 race
Some were sure that the caption was AI-generated. “Ah yes… How can we forget “Formula One champion-winning driver Mohammed Ben Sulayem? This post was 100% written by a human,” another fan wrote sarcastically.
Given the number of world champions in F1, Jackson’s social media team made a significant error by labeling a non-F1 driver as a champion of the sport. It’s likely this mistake will be rectified soon.
