Virginie Philippot joins packed FIA presidential race, second woman on the ballot
The FIA presidential contest just found another gear. Virginie Philippot has entered the race to lead motorsport’s governing body, becoming the fourth declared candidate and the second woman in the field after Swiss racer Laura Villars.
The election is set for December 12 in Uzbekistan, four years on from Mohammed Ben Sulayem succeeding Jean Todt. What initially looked like a straight fight between the incumbent and American official Tim Mayer now has a broader slate — and a very different set of voices.
Philippot, a 33-year-old Belgian journalist and presenter who’s worked with Red Bull Racing, announced her bid on social media, framing it as a push to open doors and modernize the federation. “Not to be the first, but to make sure I’m not the last,” she wrote, calling for a bolder, more inclusive FIA that reflects the world it governs.
If the name is new to the political end of the paddock, the profile isn’t shy. Philippot’s résumé zig-zags beyond motorsport — stints in pageants, a turn on French reality TV — but in recent years she’s built a presence around F1’s media perimeter and launched Drive For Hope, a charity supporting education initiatives in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Her campaign pitch leans hard into visibility and access; expect plenty of talk about diversity pipelines and demystifying how the FIA makes decisions.
She won’t be alone in that lane. Villars, who became the first woman to stand for the presidency when she declared ahead of the Baku weekend, has campaigned on transparency, stronger governance, innovation and sustainability, and lowering barriers for young drivers. Different backgrounds, similar headlines: both are aiming at an FIA that explains itself better and brings more people in.
The establishment options are equally clear. Ben Sulayem seeks a second term after a turbulent but undeniably active four years, while Mayer — a former F1 race steward and son of McLaren co-founder Teddy Mayer — offers a technocratic alternative steeped in the sport’s procedural side. Between them, you’ve got continuity, reform from within, and two outsiders promising to pull back the curtain.
What’s at stake? The FIA presidency isn’t just about Formula 1 — it’s mobility policy, safety, rallying, grassroots and governance across a vast federation — but F1 is the heat lamp. The next president will be negotiating with Liberty Media and teams on the sport’s next phase, shepherding cost controls and technical regulations, and convincing manufacturers that the rulebook is a roadmap, not a moving target. It’s politics and peacemaking as much as it is sport.
The field’s expansion also signals something the paddock’s been nudging toward: a broader definition of who gets to lead. You don’t need to be a former team boss to understand modern motorsport. You do need to win over a membership base that spans national clubs with very different priorities. That’s the real audience for the stump speeches over the next two months.
Philippot’s entry will split opinions, as any outsider bid does. The counterargument writes itself: does she have the institutional heft to run an organization of this size? The counter to the counter: fresh eyes have value when the brief includes culture change, communication and public trust. Elections are where those questions get stress-tested.
For now, the message is clear: this isn’t a coronation. It’s a campaign. And with four names on the ballot — Ben Sulayem, Mayer, Villars and Philippot — the FIA’s future is about to be debated in public, not just in corridors.
The vote in Uzbekistan will decide which vision carries. The rest of us will see the impact in the small print of sporting codes and, eventually, on the stopwatch.
