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 that visit. However, there was a problem with the caption.
Jackson first visited Bahrain before travelling to Dubai, where he met the future FIA boss.
The caption of the Instagram post read: “This week in 2005, Michael visited Dubai, the largest city in the United Arab Emirates. Here he is seen with Formula 1 championship driver Mohammed Ben Sulayem.”
It was a fun look back, 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 participate in several rally championships, especially in the Middle East. Driving for Ford and Toyota, Sulayem achieved a total of 61 international victories and 14 championships. However, he was not involved in any F1-related activities until his appointment as FIA President in 2022.
Many fans noticed the errors in Jackson’s caption and joked about it online. On Reddit, one fan commented: “No, Michael, no! That’s so wrong!” in reference to Toto Wolff’s infamous radio outburst towards former F1 race director Michael Masi during the 2021 Abu Dhabi race
Some were sure that the label was created using AI. “Oh yes… How can we forget Formula 1 World Champion Mohammed Ben Sulayem? This post was 100% written by a human,” another fan wrote sarcastically.
Given the number of world champions in Formula 1, Jackson’s social media team made a serious error by calling a non-Formula 1 driver the sport’s champion. It is likely that this error will soon be corrected.
