The FIA under Mohammed Ben Sulayem has had its fair share of controversies. So much so that Ben Sulayem has his own ‘controversies’ section on Wikipedia. However, none seem to come close to the current legal threats he is facing.
Motorsports UK Chair, David Richards CBE, has published a letter on behalf of the World Motor Sport Council to voice concerns over the “erosion of accountability and good governance within the FIA.”
Richards’ claims follow the controversies of early March, where members of the World Motor Sport Council were refused entry to a meeting after having failed to sign a revised confidentiality agreement. It is worth noting that the FIA statutes require all elected members to be given full access to council meetings.
The revised NDA bans council members from discussing FIA matters outside official council meetings. Richards and several other members saw this as more of a ‘gagging order’ than a way to prevent information leaks to the media. His primary concern was a clause that would allow the FIA to decide whether a member had breached confidentiality at its own discretion, with an immediate 50,000 euro fine for anyone found in breach.
Richards also raised concerns about the scope of the Audit and Ethics Committee, saying it “has been severely limited and now lacks autonomy from the authority of the President.” The letter published on behalf of Motorsport UK follows recent statements from the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association and the WoRDA.
The GPDA, of which Carlos Sainz has recently been appointed Director, replacing Sebastian Vettel. In November 2024, all GP drivers released a joint statement regarding the punishments for ‘driver misconduct’. They said: “All our members are adults, they do not need to be given instructions via the media, about matters as trivial as the wearing of jewellery and underpants.” The statement also raised the issue of swearing, in which they expressed their belief that there is a difference in swearing with intention to insult, compared to swearing due to the pressure in such an environment. The final thing they noted was the lack of transparency from the FIA President over where the money from the fines goes.
The FIA did not release any official response to this and instead updated the ‘driver misconduct’ regulations for 2025. As of this year, if drivers repeatedly swear or criticise the FIA publicly, they may face a shocking fine of up to 120,000 euros and a one-month suspension.
The fines were most recently applied at the World Rally Championships where French driver, Adrian Fourmaux was punished for saying, “we f***** up yesterday” in a media interview. He received a 10,000 euro fine and a 20,000 euro suspension fine.
In response to this, the World Rally Drivers Alliance released a statement in late February with similar sentiments to those of the GDPA, where they called for direct communication and engagement between the FIA President and WoRDA members. They also expressed how they believed that the severity of sanctions had reached an “unacceptable level” regarding “minor, isolated and unintentional language lapses.”
The FIA and its President have not released any formal response to this. However, the letter from Motorsport UK may force the hand of the FIA President, Richards concluded the letter by saying :
“We have informed the FIA that unless they address the issues we’ve raised, we will be engaging in further legal action.”
There will be an election for the FIA President role later this year. It is hard to see Ben Sulayem having an effective campaign considering all the recent protests against his leadership. However, an opposition standing against a sitting FIA President is not often seen and, at present, no one is openly campaigning for this role.
If all of that wasn’t enough, the Deputy President of Sport in the FIA, Robert Reid, has resigned with immediate effect due to what he called a “breakdown of governance standards.”
The BBC also reported that Reid said he had “growing alarm over critical decisions being made without due process or proper consultation.”
He made a statement on Instagram saying:
“After deep reflection, I have made the difficult decision to resign as FIA Deputy President of Sport. I took on this role to help deliver greater transparency, stronger governance, and more collaborative leadership. Over time, those principles have been increasingly set aside and I can no longer, in good faith, remain part of a system that no longer reflects them. Stepping away was not easy, however staying would have meant compromising what I believe in. This is about principles not politics.”
The statement from Reid is truly damning.
We are in an era of motorsport where the world’s two biggest sporting series under FIA jurisdiction are actively making statements against them, the Motorsports UK Chair is threatening legal action against the FIA and now, the FIA Deputy Principal has resigned because he believes there is no longer ‘integrity’ and ‘accountability’ within the organisation.
What else will it take for change to be made? At what point do we ask whether Mohamed Ben Sulayem is fit to be President of the FIA?
An election for the FIA President role is due later this year, and as previously stated, I cannot see how Ben Sulayem could have an effective campaign with all things considered. However, at the time of writing this article, no one has announced they will be campaigning against him in the election.
It is hard to see a way out of the FIA without significant change. Yet, it is clear from the multiple insider statements that there is very little to be done to hold the sitting FIA President accountable.
With all this in mind, what in the F(IA) is going to happen next?