Mayer, the son of former McLaren workforce principal Teddy Mayer and a long-time steward for the FIA earlier than being fired by Ben Sulayem final yr, stated he had submitted quite a few ethics complaints to the governing physique concerning the election course of.
“We strongly consider a sequence of ethics violations have been dedicated on this election course of,” he stated. “And we’ve got now submitted quite a few ethics complaints.
“Assuming the Ethics Committee finds validity to our complaints, who does this go to for motion? The president of the FIA or the senate president – each conflicted events. The statutes do not present for another methodology or for any attraction. The place is the accountability? That is how establishments fail.
“I’m not a revolutionary. I do need to evolve the FIA to a greater place so I intend to make use of the processes of the FIA as a lot as is do not consider they’re impartial or free and open.”
He additionally questioned the appointment of Daniel Coen as a consultant for the world council from Costa Rica when the nation has no motorsport occasions listed, which is a requirement of membership.
Mayer quoted from a report into the FIA produced by the Utrecht Faculty of Governance, which research public organisations of their interplay with the developments in politics and society.
Its report stated the FIA rating on the sports activities governance observer index was 45% which locations it “amongst federations which have adopted the formal trappings of recent governance however lack strong institutional insurance policies and safeguards”.
The report continued: “The FIA’s governance structurally concentrates energy within the workplace of the president, and accountability stays confined inside a system over which the president workout routines decisive management.”
An FIA spokesperson stated: “The FIA presidential election is a structured and democratic course of, to make sure equity and integrity at each stage.
“The necessities for the 2025 FIA elections, together with the related deadlines and eligibility standards for the presidential listing and World Councils, are outlined within the FIA statutes and inner laws, that are publicly obtainable on the FIA’s web site.
“Detailed data relating to these elections has additionally been made obtainable on a devoted web page on the FIA’s web site since 13 June 2025 and communicated to all FIA members.
“The necessities associated to the regional illustration of the vice-presidents for sport, and to pick out them from the World Motor Sport Council as a way to draw up a presidential listing, will not be new. These standards utilized to earlier elections.
“As to be anticipated, getting ready a candidature for a presidential listing or the World Councils requires sure steps to be taken. Potential candidates have had for the reason that publication of the detailed data on 13 June to arrange their functions.”
Responding to the Utrecht report cited by Mayer, the FIA spokesperson stated: “The report commissioned by Tim Mayer’s workforce finds the FIA’s governance practices to be consistent with different federations, notably these ‘which have made progress in formalising governance buildings’.
“The benchmarking course of outlined inside the report doesn’t discover the FIA to be behind the curve. This displays the truth that the FIA has taken a number of steps to strengthen its company governance insurance policies.
“The FIA was not contacted to substantiate any of the statements or assumptions made about its processes, insurance policies and administration inside the report.”
