Mohammed Ben Sulayem has been officially named the FIA President for the second term from 2025 after he was elected unopposed in WMSC in Tashkent.
Having taken up the mantle from Jean Todt in December of 2021, the tenure of Sulayem has been far away from controversies. He to handle the aftermath of 2021 F1 title fight, but it was only the start of several decisions which has faced criticism in public avenue.
The FIA has seen departures of several key personnel in his period of office, as ‘authoritarian’ type of ruling has been whispered from many. But all of this has found little success to defeat him in the FIA Presidential election. So much so, that there could be no one against him for 2025 elections.
A small change in the rule book thwarted chances of couple of entries, one of the biggest being Tim Mayer. His FIA Forward is helping other candidate Laura Villars in legal remedy to remove Sulayem from the post due to unjust holding of Presidential elections in 2025.
For now, the court has allowed for the elections to take place which did eventually on Friday in Tashkent, where Sulayem took the victory to be re-elected as the FIA President from 2025 for a second term. The court has cited too much complexity to disallow the elections from taking place.
However, the case will continue on in the time to come. In the meantime, Sulayem got re-elected and headed the FIA Prize Giving Ceremony in Tashkent. “Thank you to all our FIA Members for voting in remarkable numbers and placing your trust in me once again. We have overcome many obstacles but here today, together, we are stronger than ever,” he said.
“It is truly an honour to be FIA President, and I am committed to continuing to deliver for the FIA, for motorsport, for mobility, and for our Member Clubs in every region around the world.” The governing body highlighted that the election took place through a robust and transparent process, reflecting on the democratic foundations.
In addition to Sulayem’s re-election as President, Deputy President for Sport Malcolm Wilson OBE was also re-elected alongside Deputy President for Automobile Mobility and Tourism Tim Shearman and Senate President Carmelo Sanz de Barros.
The FIA highlighted on key operations under Sulayem:
Under Mohammed Ben Sulayem’s leadership the FIA has reversed a €-24.0m loss in 2021 to a robust operating result of €4.7m in 2024, the strongest financial result the federation has seen in almost 10 years. Today at the FIA Annual General Assemblies, the FIA announced a 2025 operating result forecast of €4.4m, showing continued momentum and sustained financial improvement. This renewed stability has enabled increased long-term investment in Member Clubs and strategic programmes worldwide.
Underpinning this momentum is wider institutional reform over the last four years, with strengthened budgetary discipline, enhanced external audit processes and modernised governance structures, resulting in greater transparency, accountability and professional standards across the organisation.
In addition to these reforms, the FIA has established a commercial function and strengthened its global institutional identity across both motorsport and mobility, expanding regional development activity, supporting grassroots participation, and deepening engagement with international partners on safety, sustainable mobility and the future of transport.
Here’s FIA WMSC meet details
