What is the role of President of the FIA and what do they do?

The FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem has been under intense scrutiny in the latter parts of 2024 due to an open letter from the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association, which is the trade union for Formula 1 drivers.

Ben Sulayem has also appeared in the press on various other occasions, claiming that the British media “convicted me” or that the FIA does not get the credit it deserves.

The 63-year-old Emirati has been in the job since 2021 having succeeded Jean Todt who held the position for 12 years – so here is all to know about the role of FIA president. 

What does the President of the FIA do?

The FIA president is the external face of motor racing’s governing body, who leads the organisation and oversees any changes it makes to the championships under its umbrella.

To become the FIA president, one must run for an election which is held every four years where FIA Member Clubs are eligible to vote. Those clubs span across six continents, including the likes of the Royal Automobile Club in London, the Australian Automobile Association in Canberra or the Canadian Automobile Association in Ottawa who all vote depending on which manifesto it likes the most. 

An FIA president is limited to three terms meaning they can serve for a maximum of 12 years, therefore Ben Sulayem is running for election again in 2025 and can do so in 2029 as well. 

Once elected, the president is in charge of running the FIA and has a big say on whatever changes are made, for example to the F1 race director.

Wittich was replaced by the Formula 2 race director Rui Marques at a similar time it was announced the FIA had launched a new Officials Department to start a production line of trained race officials – headed by Ben Sulayem.

So the president is in charge of various initiatives run by the FIA to help grow motor racing. More of these initiatives include aiming to be Net Zero by 2030, introducing sustainable fuels to F1 for 2026 or even partnering with Cranfield University to award the Motorsport Engineering Scholarship to somebody with aspirations of a career within the industry. The projects are therefore at varying levels of the motorsport pyramid. 

The president must also undertake vast public work. On an F1 weekend, for example, Ben Sulayem is regularly in parc ferme after track…