Laura Villars has initiated legal proceedings against the FIA ​​over her election to the position of President

“This measure aims to ensure that the next FIA presidential elections, currently scheduled for 12 December 2025, are consistent with the organisation’s own laws and basic democratic principles,” Villars told BBC Sport.

“The legal action is based on Article 1.3 of the FIA ​​Statutes, which obliges the FIA ​​to ‘respect the highest standards of governance, transparency and democracy’, and on the fact that the FIA ​​is a French law association based in Paris, and therefore subject to French jurisdiction.

He added: “This step is neither hostile nor political, but rather a responsible and constructive initiative to protect transparency, ethics and pluralism within the framework of global motorsport management.”

“As I have said publicly, I am not acting against the FIA. I am acting to protect it. Democracy is not a threat to the FIA; it is its strength.”

An FIA spokesperson told BBC Sport: “Due to the nature of the process, the FIA ​​is unable to comment on this legal action and will not be able to provide further comment on this matter.”

Villars said that the court had invited both parties to a mediation meeting and that it would attend “in a spirit of openness and good faith.”

“I will go into the mediation session with the same attitude I have maintained from the beginning: calm, open and determined,” she said.

“I hope that this will finally lead to an honest dialogue in the service of the FIA ​​that is more modern, fair and relevant to its members.

“I have twice tried to open a constructive dialogue with the FIA ​​on fundamental issues such as internal democracy and transparency of electoral rules. The responses I received were not up to the challenge.”

“We have obtained authorization for an hour-to-hour emergency summons, which demonstrates that the court takes seriously the serious democratic failures within the FIA, as well as the numerous violations of its laws and regulations that we have denounced,” Villars’ lawyer Ruben Pinsard said.