Mayer, the son of former McLaren team principal Teddy Mayer and a long-time steward for the FIA before being fired by Ben Sulayem last year, said he had submitted a number of ethics complaints to the governing body about the election process.
“We strongly believe a series of ethics violations have been committed in this election process,” he said. “And we have now submitted numerous ethics complaints.
“Assuming the Ethics Committee finds validity to our complaints, who does this go to for action? The president of the FIA or the senate president – both conflicted parties. The statutes don’t provide for any other method or for any appeal. Where is the accountability? This is how institutions fail.
“I am not a revolutionary. I do want to evolve the FIA to a better place so I intend to use the processes of the FIA as much as is don’t believe they are independent or free and open.”
He also questioned the appointment of Daniel Coen as a representative for the world council from Costa Rica when the country has no motorsport events listed, which is a requirement of membership.
Mayer quoted from a report into the FIA produced by the Utrecht School of Governance, which studies public organisations in their interaction with the developments in politics and society.
Its report said the FIA score on the sports governance observer index was 45% which places it “among federations that have adopted the formal trappings of modern governance but lack robust institutional policies and safeguards”.
The report continued: “The FIA’s governance structurally concentrates power in the office of the president, and accountability remains confined within a system over which the president exercises decisive control.”
An FIA spokesperson said: “The FIA presidential election is a structured and democratic process, to ensure fairness and integrity at every stage.
“The requirements for the 2025 FIA elections, including the relevant deadlines and eligibility criteria for the presidential list and World Councils, are defined in the FIA statutes and internal regulations, which are publicly available on the FIA’s website.
“Detailed information regarding these elections has also been made available on a dedicated page on the FIA’s website since 13 June 2025 and communicated to all FIA members.
“The requirements related to the regional representation of the vice-presidents for sport, and to select them from the World Motor Sport Council in order to draw up a presidential list, are not new. These criteria applied to previous elections.
“As to be expected, preparing a candidature for a presidential list or the World Councils requires certain steps to be taken. Prospective candidates have had since the publication of the detailed information on 13 June to prepare their applications.”
Responding to the Utrecht report cited by Mayer, the FIA spokesperson said: “The report commissioned by Tim Mayer’s team finds the FIA’s governance practices to be in line with other federations, particularly those ‘that have made progress in formalising governance structures’.
“The benchmarking process outlined within the report does not find the FIA to be behind the curve. This reflects the fact that the FIA has taken several steps to strengthen its corporate governance policies.
“The FIA was not contacted to confirm any of the statements or assumptions made about its processes, policies and administration within the report.”
