FIA hit with ‘no democracy, just theatre’ claims as Tim Mayer declares election process over

The earliest candidate to announce his intent to run against Mohammed Ben Sulayem in the upcoming FIA Presidential election, Tim Mayer, has declared the race as over.

The American executive was the first candidate to announce his intent to run against Mohammed Ben Sulayem in this year’s FIA presidential election, launching his ‘FIA Forward’ campaign ahead of the British Grand Prix in July.

Tim Mayer declares the election process as ‘over’

Mayer, as well as the other two candidates, Laura Villars and Virginie Phillipott, saw their prospects of becoming the next FIA President end recently, due to a foible of the FIA’s Statutes that meant only one eligible candidate, the incumbent Mohammed Ben Sulayem, could successfully make the ballot.

In order to compile a full Presidential List, ie. a cabinet, candidates must nominate vice-presidents from the Middle East and North Africa, Africa, North America, South America, Asia-Pacific, and two from Europe.

Those individuals can be drawn from nominations to the World Motor Sport Council, a key body in the global governance of the sport.

Nominations for the WMSC closed last month, locking down the list of potential vice-presidents for all candidates. However, the critical element was that only one representative from South America was nominated: Fabiana Ecclestone.

As previously reported by PlanetF1.com, with Ecclestone named on Ben Sulayem’s Presidential List, having indicated her support for the incumbent, the other three candidates are incapable of submitting a complete List by the deadline, October 24th, and thus cannot be accepted as eligible candidates.

Addressing this in an update ahead of this weekend’s United States Grand Prix, Mayer hit out at what he claimed has been a process lacking in democracy.

“Today, I will say something that may sound contradictory: the election for the President of the FIA is over,” he said.

“But our campaign is not, and neither is our mission to protect the integrity and reputation of the FIA.

“So how can an election be over when the ballot is more than two months away? 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.

“Throughout our FIA Forward campaign, we’ve spoken of fairness, reform, and integrity, of returning the FIA to its members, but today, the outcome of this election and the flawed process that governs it proves how far we’ve drifted from that ideal under the FIA statutes.

“No Presidential List can exist unless it includes one vice-president for sport from every global region, and those vice-presidents must be drawn from the list of those who have nominated themselves for the World Motor Sport Council and have an international event on the FIA calendar.

“That sounds inclusive, until you realise what happens when there are no independent candidates to choose from, no credible alternative options. In South America, only one person stood for the WMSC. In Africa, only two.

“All three are directly associated with the incumbent. The result is simple: no one but the incumbent can run under the FIA system.

“In the last election cycle, more than 40 candidates came forward for the WMSC. This time, 29. What changed? Did member clubs suddenly lose interest in shaping the sport?

“Or were they persuaded, pressured, or promised something not to stand?

“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’s clear this is no longer a democratic process.

“When choice is replaced by control, democracy is diminished. Take South America. It’s a continent that is passionate about motorsport, yet only one candidate emerged, Fabiana Ecclestone. She has deep ties to Brazilian motorsport, and I respect her credentials, but, as I travelled across the region, the same message came to me time and time again.

“Motorsport in Brazil is not typical of motorsport across South America. Yet no other club chose to nominate someone, which, by the way, would not have been a challenge to Mrs. Ecclestone, but an opportunity to broaden the representation of their region and strengthen the sport across the continent.

“Now consider Africa, a region of 22 clubs across 47 nations with vast promise and vast diversity, yet only two candidates emerged, both declared supporters of the president.

“Amina Mohamed of Kenya is a respected and accomplished diplomat, but not a lifelong motorsport organiser. And Rodrigo Rocha was permitted to run because of an eSports event quietly added to the international sporting calendar last month by an E-vote, an event that, though it was scheduled for last weekend, to the best of our knowledge, appears never to have taken place.

“It’s not even listed on his own Club’s calendar or their social media pages, which, in fact, is a situation that mirrors what happened the last time he stood as a candidate, an event put on the calendar but never run.

“So I ask, ‘How is this how legitimacy should be built?’ Is this how African motor sports should be best represented, and is this how we’re going to grow the sport in this critical region with so much untapped potential?

“When elections are decided before ballots are even cast, that’s not democracy, that’s theatre. And when member clubs are left with no real choice, they become spectators, not participants.”

In response to Mayer’s comments, an FIA spokesperson said, “The FIA Presidential election is a structured and democratic process, to ensure fairness and integrity at every stage.

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 13 June 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 13 June to prepare their applications.”

What’s next for Tim Mayer’s FIA Presidential campaign?

With the presidential election still two months away, as it will be held at the governing body’s General Assembly in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, on December 12th, Mayer did not declare a formal withdrawal from the presidential race.

While he has said the election process is over and, according to the Statutes in place, has until the 24th of October to submit a valid Presidential List, which is an impossibility, the American confirmed he is looking at avenues that will allow for his campaign to continue.

“I know that other candidates are looking at legal processes,” he said.

“I’ve certainly spoken to Laura Villars this week, in fact; we are choosing to go through the FIA’s internal processes, which is starting with the Ethics Commission.

“I am not a revolutionary. You only need to look at me to realise that I am not a revolutionary.

“I do want to evolve the FIA to a better place, and so I intend to use the internal processes of the FIA.

“As much as I don’t believe that they’re independent, as much as I don’t believe that the process right now is free and open, but I intend to use that process at least to start.

“I strongly believe a series of ethics violations have been committed in this election process, and we have now submitted numerous ethics complaints.

“Assuming the Ethics Committee finds validity to our complaints, who does this go to for action? The president of the FIA or the Senate president? Both conflicted parties.

“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 breaks.

“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 WMSC; only a list of those they allegedly approved.

“In fact, there is no publicly available evidence that this committee even met, and if it did, did the representative from Mozambique recuse himself when they approved Mr. Rocha from Mozambique? How would we know?

“There is absolutely no transparency, and this is how institutions fail. This is power without breaks.

“Speaking of the nominations committee, did they consider that Mr. Coen of Costa Rica has no publicly listed events on the international sporting calendar, no international events listed on his own Club’s website, or was he exceptionally approved by the Senate, a process that is only open to the incumbent president? We don’t know. There is no evidence.

“Yet, he was approved for the WMSC list. So this, then, is the brand of the FIA, and this is what partners and clubs are beginning to realise; when you have power without breaks, institutions fail.

“So for us, the real campaign continues. For every club that still believes in fairness and integrity, for every sport and mobility clubs that seek equal access to information, funding, and opportunity, to every participant who believes that the FIA should support them, not compete against them.

“Across our travels, many member clubs have told me ‘we want to speak, but we can’t’. Clubs fear losing projects, funding, or recognition if they simply question the system, and that’s why this campaign must persist, not for power, but for principle.

“We’ll continue to be a voice for the silenced, and we will not rest until every member club feels free to speak for itself. We’ll continue to champion both pillars of the FIA, sport and mobility.”

Asked whether he believes he could have won the election had he been able to make the ballot against Ben Sulayem, whom Mayer said he hasn’t communicated with since the weekend of the announcement of his candidacy, Mayer smiled.

“I would have had a very good chance,” he said.

“Throughout, I felt that, when I went to people to explain the ideas, explain the position, and said, ‘You have an opportunity to cast your independent ballot in December’, the look in people’s eyes was like, ‘Okay, yeah, I do’.

“That was the opportunity, which, by the way, is why it suits to stop it at this point, because then there is a risk against the incumbent.”

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