Close Menu
Sports Review News
  • Home
  • Football
  • Baseball
  • Basketball
  • Hocky
  • Soccer
  • Boxing
  • Golf
  • Motorsport
  • Tennis

Subscribe to Updates

Get the latest creative sports news and updates directly to your inbox.

Trending

Answering all your Mets offseason questions with a Mega-Mailbag episode | The Mets Pod

October 8, 2025

Amazon’s Prime Video Unwraps Its NBA Sponsorship Playbook

October 8, 2025

Top five roles on Motorsport Jobs this week

October 8, 2025
Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
Sports Review News
SUBSCRIBE
  • Home
  • Football
  • Baseball
  • Basketball
  • Hocky
  • Soccer
  • Boxing
  • Golf
  • Motorsport
  • Tennis
Sports Review News
Home»Motorsport»Why Ben Sulayem looks set to win FIA president re-election unopposed
Motorsport

Why Ben Sulayem looks set to win FIA president re-election unopposed

News RoomBy News RoomOctober 8, 2025No Comments6 Mins Read
Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email Telegram Copy Link
Why Ben Sulayem looks set to win FIA president re-election unopposed

The hopes of any candidates dislodging incumbent FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem in December look all but gone, as it appears none of his rivals will be able to submit an eligible team.

Ben Sulayem is seeking a second four-year term as FIA president during the governing body’s General Assemblies held on 12 December in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

Alongside the 63-year-old Emirati, three other potential candidates have publicly come forward, including former F1 steward Tim Mayer, Swiss racer Laura Villars and Belgian TV presenter Virginie Philippot.

All candidates have from 3 and 24 October to submit their bids, which includes naming a presidential list – a team of nominees that will run alongside them to fill the roles of president of the senate, deputy president for automobile mobility and tourism as well as the post of deputy president for sport.

The list also includes seven vice presidents for sport; two from Europe and one each for the remaining regions – MENA, Africa, North America, South Africa and Asia-Pacific.

Any candidates for the above positions may only appear on one presidential candidate’s list and they must all be eligible candidates for the World Motor Sport Council. That list of eligible WMSC member candidates has now been made public, and crucially it only contains one potential representative from South America – Fabiana Ecclestone.

Ecclestone, the Brazilian wife of former F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone, is Ben Sulayem’s current VP for the region and is on his re-election team as well, so therefore no other presidential candidate will be able to put together a presidential list that satisfies all criteria.

F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali and Fabiana Ecclestone

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

Candidates for the WMSC can be put forward by the relevant ASN of their country. On 13 June the FIA sent a letter to all FIA members, informing them of a 19 September deadline to submit such candidatures for the council. With that deadline now lapsed, there is no other mechanism for members to apply to the council, and thus no other way for a South American representative to be picked by a presidential ticket.

Per the FIA’s published guidelines, candidates for the WMSC must be under 75 years of age on the day of the election, and there must not be anything in the record of each of the candidates for the WMSC that calls into question their professional integrity.

What that means is that either Mayer and the other presidential hopefuls failed to recruit a South American official to fill the post of vice president in time, or that such a candidature was put forward but rejected by the authorised FIA Nominations Committee.

Ben Sulayem’s South American kingmakers

Due to confidentiality agreements, the FIA cannot disclose such details, but events from earlier this year provide clues as to why the writing appeared on the wall all along for Mayer, whose team has been contacted for comment.

In May, rally legend Carlos Sainz Sr announced an interest in running for the presidency. Sainz ultimately didn’t follow through on those intentions, but the Spaniard’s high-profile bid did attract a lot of media attention.

Several weeks later a collective of 36 Spanish-speaking FIA members as well as automobile clubs from the Americas sent a joint letter to Ben Sulayem expressing support for his re-election campaign. Fabiana Ecclestone also signed the letter.

But more importantly, the letter was signed by every single president of the 11 South American federations, showcasing that any rival to Ben Sulayem would face an uphill battle to convince one of them to switch allegiance – which was necessary in order to put forward a WMSC candidate willing to join a different presidential ticket.

Tim Mayer

Tim Mayer

Photo by: Clive Mason/Getty Images

As it happens, Mayer recently toured the continent as he travels around the world to garner support for his campaign. “I recently spent a few, extremely busy days in South America visiting our member clubs in Chile, Bolivia and Argentina,” he wrote on the campaign website. “The welcome was warm in each country and the topography is individually spectacular, but my visit further reinforced FIA Forward’s opinion that the FIA needs to provide unique solutions to each region’s unique challenges, whether those are in sport or mobility.”

But with Ben Sulayem also enjoying strong support in Asia and Africa, Mayer had already foreshadowed when he announced his candidacy that beating the president at his own game of keeping member clubs on his side would be tricky. At the election, each of the FIA’s 149 member countries has an equal vote, split between the sport and mobility sides.

“We are in a situation where it’s very important for the member clubs that they see the value, that they see that they can get value,” Mayer said in July. “To be honest, Mohammed has been quite good at explaining to them what he’s doing for them. But he needs to do it top to bottom, not just here and there for member clubs. It needs to be universal within the organisation.”

Read Also:

Ben Sulayem’s first term proves divisive

In the aforementioned letter of support, Ben Sulayem was credited by his supporters for providing strong leadership and improving the FIA’s financial outlook following the COVID-19 pandemic. But the former rally driver has also faced criticism over his governance style.

In March this year Motorsport UK chief Dave Richards accused Ben Sulayem of consolidating power, writing in an open letter that “the governance and constitutional organisation of the FIA is becoming ever more opaque and concentrating power in the hands of the president alone”.

The letter followed a string of high-profile resignations and sackings within the FIA, including Mayer as well as CEO Natalie Robyn, technical director Tim Goss, sporting director Steve Nielsen, compliance officer Paolo Basarri, and Deborah Mayer, the president of the FIA’s Women in Motorsport Commission.

David Richards and Mohammed Ben Sulayem, President, FIA

David Richards and Mohammed Ben Sulayem, President, FIA

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

The biggest upheaval followed in April when Ben Sulayem’s running mate – deputy president for sport Robert Reid – resigned over what he felt was a “breakdown of governance standards” and “critical decisions being made without due process”. Reid was replaced as deputy president by Malcolm Wilson, the founder of rallying powerhouse M-Sport.

There was also pushback in June against changes to the FIA’s statutes and ethics code that Ben Sulayem initiated, which have increased the president’s influence on the FIA Senate membership and made the vetting process for WMSC candidates more rigorous.

At the time the FIA stated those changes, which were voted through by a super majority at its General Assembly in Macau, were “designed to further strengthen processes around governance and confidentiality” and will “grant the Nominations Committee more time to examine the eligibility criteria of candidates, and help to ensure consistency and rigour in the electoral process.”

We want to hear from you!

Let us know what you would like to see from us in the future.

Take our survey

– The Autosport.com Team

Read the full article here

Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Telegram Reddit Email
Previous ArticleSacked Rangers manager Russell Martin spotted getting ready to pack up belongings and leave luxury Glasgow pad
Next Article 2025-26 Fantasy Basketball: 3 guards to fade in High Score

Related Posts

Top five roles on Motorsport Jobs this week

October 8, 2025

Why extreme experiments couldn’t save Ferrari in F1 Singapore GP

October 8, 2025

The F1 season in numbers at the three-quarter stage

October 8, 2025

Morbidelli claims to have struck track manners balance after several MotoGP 2025 penalties

October 8, 2025

How Supercars Finals format avoided NASCAR’s problem

October 8, 2025

BTCC and FIA F3 race winners among Porsche Carrera Cup GB Junior finalists

October 8, 2025
Add A Comment
Leave A Reply Cancel Reply

Demo
Stay In Touch
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Instagram
  • YouTube
  • Vimeo
Don't Miss

Answering all your Mets offseason questions with a Mega-Mailbag episode | The Mets Pod

By News RoomOctober 8, 2025

On the latest episode of The Mets Pod presented by Tri-State Cadillac, Connor Rogers and…

Amazon’s Prime Video Unwraps Its NBA Sponsorship Playbook

October 8, 2025

Top five roles on Motorsport Jobs this week

October 8, 2025

Lima Says He’ll ‘Shock The World’ By Beating Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis And Forcing Eddie Hearn To Sign Him After October 11 Showdown

October 8, 2025

Subscribe to Updates

Get the latest creative sports news and updates directly to your inbox.

Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram Pinterest
  • Home
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • For Advertisers
  • Contact
© 2025 Prices.com LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.