Laura Villars is one of the candidates for the FIA presidential elections taking place this December. Similarly to others who decided to stand against Mohammed Ben Sulayem, she already knows her campaign won’t be successful due to a failed system.
Earlier this month, all of the valid candidates for the election were announced. Since then, Tim Mayer has dropped out of the race due to the lack of support. Last week, Laura Villars announced that she will be taking legal action against the FIA. Her reasoning for this has been that, according to her, the system only provides one legitimate candidate per election. She has filed her case with the courtroom in Paris.
Her aim is to highlight the current lack of possible competition and make sure the election offers a choice to vote instead of electing the only candidate.
One Woman on the Other Side
Ultimately, her campaign failed because of another woman. Although Villars is making a name for herself globally, her candidate list is missing one important name. The list of vice-presidents she can choose from to support her campaign only has one member for the South American region. Fabiana Ecclestone, elected as vice-president in the region, already announced her public support for Sulayem’s campaign.
With no alternative available, Ecclestone is effectively choosing who will become the next president before the election even starts. And by her choice to support the current president, she made it impossible for the three new candidates who announced their candidacy to stand against him.
The Court Hearing
Villars has a team of lawyers behind her, opening the case. She filed legal action based on the lack of transparency and democracy of the FIA presidential election in Paris. The location is not random; it is where FIA has its headquarters. Refusing to mark her campaign as failed before the election started, she is asking the court to suspend the election that is scheduled for December 12th. In the meantime, she is asking the court to determine whether the election rules are fair and legally valid.
The hearing is set for November 10th, with both Villars’ legal team, led by Robin Binsard, and the FIA meeting for mediation beforehand.
The Presidential Race Dropouts
Villars isn’t the only one frustrated. Tim Mayer announced last month that he is stepping away from the presidential race due to the support situation. His campaign titled FIA Forward will continue, aiming now to promote fairness and democracy that the current organisation is lacking. While he didn’t officially take legal action himself, his campaign supports Villars.
While we do not have any official statement from the last candidate, Virginie Philippot, her candidacy statement states clearly that she stands on the same side as the other two in this fight. As the voice of minorities, she expressed that while chances to become a new president are low from the start, her candidacy is also a statement that she wants to see justice, fairness and democracy in the governing body.
The Possible Outcome
As the case is ongoing, there are no detailed statements on the matter—neither from Villars nor from the FIA.
If Villars succeeds, the court could delay the election further and urge the FIA to review the governance and election system. That would mean that while Ben Sulayem would still represent the FIA as its president, he wouldn’t be able to take any major decisions during that process.
The Bigger Picture
Motorsport is gaining fans globally faster than a qualifying lap around the Temple of Speed. Every day, there are new and bigger sponsorships announced, including Hello Kitty, Apple TV, Disney, Kit Kat, Louis Vuitton and others. F1: The Movie just became the most successful motorsport movie of all time, and if the growing numbers are anything to go by, this is just the beginning of change.
The FIA cannot afford a scandal of the dimensions that the current presidential election is shaping to be. An evaluation of the FIA by Dr. Arnout Geeraert from Utrecht University ranks the governing body of motorsport very low compared to other sports governing bodies when it comes to accountability and transparency. His findings show the dire state the FIA is in, ranking the organisation at just 41%.
For a sport that thrives on competition, an uncontested election feels out of place. Villars’ case seeks to ensure that motorsport’s governing body lives up to the same principles it preaches: fairness, accountability, and transparency.