War of Words ramps up as FIA fire back at Todt financial claims

Two years into Ben Sulayem's headline-packed Presidency of the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), in an interview with L'Equipe Todt hit back at claims that during his watch there were financial issues plaguing the global automotive organisation.

In the interview, Todt claimed: “When I left, the budget had been multiplied by almost three" and then pointed a finger at Ben Sulayem: “I wasn’t surprised. I knew who my successor was. I know the character. I start from the principle that when one chapter closes, another opens and we do not allow ourselves to attack a predecessor.”

With that 'Golden Rule' binned in this saga, an FIA spokesperson told Autosport: “As the FIA President outlined during the annual general assemblies week in Baku, the FIA has been transparent in revealing that soon after the new presidential team took office.

"The financial state that was discovered was unsatisfactory and unsustainable. The federation was incurring significant losses," this latest FIA statement reiterating what Todt is denying.

It added: “The senior leadership’s mission is to sustain the FIA, and while we are not for profit, we do need to at least have balanced books and ideally create a surplus to strengthen equity for unforeseen events and to invest in research and development in the areas of safety, technology, and regulation across sport and mobility and to meet our primary purpose of supporting our member clubs.

“We will be releasing figures for 2021-22 in the coming weeks and 2023 figures in mid-June 2024 for the extraordinary general assembly," concluded the FIA statement.

77-year-old Frenchman Todt ran the FIA for three terms before 62-year-old Emirati Ben Sulayem was elected to succeed him at the end of 2021.