21/07/2025
NEWS STORY
FIA Presidential hopeful, Tim Mayer has doubled down on his criticism of Mohammed ben Sulayem.
Mayer, in announcing his bid for the presidency claimed that there is a "failure in leadership" within motorsport's governing body, more less accusing Ben Sulayem of instilling a culture of fear within the organisation.
A Steward with the FIA, and with much experience in motorsport, Mayer was fired by Ben Sulayem, but denies that his criticism is personal or in revenge for his firing.
"This is not about revenge," he told reporters at a press conference earlier this month. "It's about how we can drive the FIA forward. It's about what we can do better in this campaign and as we go forward four years after that.
"Mohammed Ben Sulayem made promises three and a half years ago that were good ideas," he said, "transparency, governance, he even promised he would be a non-executive president. He hasn't delivered on those ideas. In fact, it has been quite the opposite."
Now, speaking on the Parc Ferme F1 podcast, the American has doubled down in his criticism of the Emirati.
"The focus has not been on delivery, in my opinion," he said. "The focus has been on consolidation of power in an unprecedented way.
"The statutes of the FIA have been changed and changed and changed again," he continued. "Every time it's just been a short, incremental change towards where we are today, which is that we're no longer talking about democracy, even though that's the platform that he ran on.
"We're no longer talking about real representation because the people that are elected to represent can no longer even talk to their members they're supposed to represent," he added, a claim that many ordinary people can relate to in terms of some of the word's current governments.
"There has been a terrible erosion of governance standards in the FIA," he continued. "I think also that the relationship that he has with, say, the drivers, is just not the way a body like the FIA should be working. The relationship he has with the promoters and the teams is the same.
"We should not be treating all of these stakeholders, these people who have invested their time, their lives in some cases, their careers as if they're naughty children. It's just not the way to do it. So I have come to the conclusion that this needs to change."