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New Delhi: Formula One’s governing body, the FIA, has removed the 12-year term limit for its presidency having received approval in a vote this week. The move lets the current president, Mohammed Ben Sulayem to stay in his role until he is defeated in an election or chooses against running for re-election.

The 64-year-old had been elected as FIA president at the end of 2021, and is presently in his second term. In the most recent election, which happened last December, he ran unopposed. Article 20.10 of the FIA regulation stated that the president of the FIA “may not serve more than three terms of office, whether consecutive or not”, which is a maximum of 12 years. 

However, these limits have now been removed after a vote at the FIA’s Extraordinary General Assembly in Macau this week, approving an amendment to the rules. An FIA statement recapping the decision in Macau noted that the term limit had been removed from FIA bodies, which now aligns them with the World Councils and the Senate. A vote of FIA member clubs in the organisation’s general assembly approved the proposal with a majority of 90.7 per cent, as reported by BBC Sport, citing sources.

FIA has declined to explicitly confirm the voting numbers. For now, there is an age restriction of 70 for anyone standing for the FIA presidency. However, BBC Sport noted that sources have told them that Ben Sulayem intended to remove that as well. In fact, many believe he wants to be in the role forever.

Ben Sulayem’s tenure has seen loads of controversies in its decision-making and use of power within the organisation. Last April, his vice-president, Robert Reid, had resigned from his role, describing a “governance crisis” and feeling there was decay in principles as well. 

David Richards, who is chairman of Motorsport UK, which is FIA’s British member club, had written an open letter last April where he had claimed that there was a shift in the “moral compass” in the leadership. FIA’s governance rules came into the spotlight around last year’s election when three candidates, including American racing executive Tim Mayer, were unable to stand due to restrictions on the needed criteria.