FIA presidential hopeful Tim Mayer has conceded his election hopes are over, as no candidate will be able to stand against incumbent Mohammed Ben Sulayem.
The former F1 chief steward said the situation was “shocking” for both himself and member clubs who have realised that there will be no proper election fight ahead of December's vote, with only one name eligible to stand.
Mayer has vowed to keep pushing for reform of the FIA’s democratic process and says he has lodged complaints with the governing body over potential ethics violations in the election process.
Rivals shut down
As The Race revealed last week, quirks of the election rules have meant it is impossible for anyone other than Ben Sulayem to stand in December’s ballot.
That's because a requirement for each candidate to put forward a presidential team of 10 other individuals cannot now be fulfilled.
This Presidential List includes the president of the senate; the deputy president for automobile mobility and tourism; the deputy president for sport; plus seven vice-presidents for sport.
These seven vice-presidents must come from different regions, but Ben Sulayem’s rivals have found themselves unable to pick anyone from South America – as only one name has been deemed eligible by the FIA.
That is Fabiana Ecclestone from Brazil, who has already pledged her full support to Ben Sulayem.
Mayer said he was “disappointed” about what had happened but vowed to not walk away from his mission to help change the FIA.
“The election for the president of the FIA is over, but our campaign is not – and neither is our mission to protect the integrity and reputation of the FIA,” he said.
“This time, there will be no election. There will be no debate between ideas, no comparison of vision, no examination of leadership. There'll only be one candidate, the incumbent, and that's not democracy. That's the illusion of democracy.”
Mayer believes that a situation where there are questions about democracy, because of an election process that does not allow the incumbent to be challenged, holds big dangers for the governing body.
“If the FIA continues down this path, it risks serious consequences,” he said. “Many of the largest clubs have already voiced concerns, and major investors in motorsports who demand strong governance measures are openly critical.
“Revenues will flow out of the FIA and out of motorsport if investors cannot trust leadership looking after their large scale financial commitments.
“The FIA's credibility is not a given. It must be earned through transparency, accountability and integrity, three brief examples from my own experience.”
Ethics complaints
The Race reported last week that another presidential hopeful, Laura Villars (above), had begun legal correspondence with the FIA about the situation and had not ruled out court action.
Mayer said he did not want to go down such a route and preferred to go through official FIA channels – even though he knows that he has no hope of his complaints being listened to.
That is because the FIA President and the Senate that the complaints are made against will have final say themselves on if there has been a breach.
The Race understands that there are seven ethics committee complaints that have now been lodged.
Mayer added: “We strongly believe a series of ethics violations have been committed in this election process, and we have now submitted numerous ethics complaints.
“But assuming the ethics committee finds validity to our complaints, where does this go to for action?
“The President of the FIA or the Senate President, both conflicted parties, and the statutes, don't provide any other method or any appeal. Where is the accountability? This is how institutions fail, and this is power without brakes.
“The nominations committee is, by statute, supposed to be transparent. Yet they have published no minutes, published no meetings, and refused to release the list of people who submitted their names for the World Motor Sport Council.
“There is only a list of those they allegedly approved. In fact, there is no publicly available evidence that this committee even met.”
Mayer said he had no answers as to why only one candidate was eligible from South America, and two from Africa, to effectively close off the route for anyone to stand against Ben Sulayem.
There has been no official answer about whether WMSC candidates did not apply, or were rejected.
“Did member clubs suddenly lose interest in shaping the sport, or were they persuaded, pressured or promised something not to stand?” Mayer asked. “I can't say for sure.
“But when only three out of 12 eligible clubs across South America and Africa put themselves forward, independent of whether they support me or not, it is clear this is no longer a democratic process.
"When choice is replaced by control, democracy is diminished.”
FIA response
The FIA has dismissed Mayer’s suggestions of the election being run in a way that is undemocratic - and insists that there was full transparency about the criteria required for anyone to stand.
A spokesperson for the governing body explained that the presidential list system has been a part of previous elections, so is not something new.
“The FIA presidential election is a structured and democratic process, to ensure fairness and integrity at every stage,” the spokesperson said.
“The requirements for the 2025 FIA elections, including the relevant deadlines and eligibility criteria for the presidential list and world councils, are defined in the FIA statutes and internal regulations, which are publicly available on the FIA’s website.
“Detailed information regarding these elections has also been made available on a dedicated page on the FIA’s website since June 13 2025 and communicated to all FIA members.
“The requirements related to the regional representation of the vice presidents for sport, and to select them from the World Motor Sport Council in order to draw up a presidential list, are not new. These criteria applied to previous elections.
“As to be expected, preparing a candidature for a presidential list or the world councils requires certain steps to be taken. Prospective candidates have had since the publication of the detailed information on June 13 to prepare their applications.”
