Business of Speed Podcast - The One with Laura Villars, FIA Presidential Candidate

Episode Date: October 16, 2025

What happens when someone decides to take on a system they know is rigged?In this episode of The Business of Speed, we sit down with Laura Villars — a professional driver who made headlines for trying to run for FIA President... even though she knew her name could never appear on the ballot.Laura opens up about what she discovered behind the scenes of motorsport’s most powerful organization, how the rules are designed to keep outsiders out, and why she still believes change has to start from within.This conversation dives into:Why the FIA election process isn’t as democratic as it seemsHow Laura’s candidacy exposed a hidden flaw in motorsport governanceThe future of women and young people in racing leadershipWhat it means to fight for change when you know you might loseIf you’ve ever felt like the system was stacked against you — this story will resonate deeply.🎧 Listen to more episodes of The Business of Speed

hola vincenzo hola lali what's this hoodie you're wearing wow right to the hoodie huh you look like an astronaut a little bit this is uh this is malbon malbon malbon is that like an alex albon brand no what is it that would be a fascinating collaboration malbon and albon Malbon? No, Malbon is a golf brand and they collaborate. Wait, wait, wait. Alex Albon's girlfriend is like a professional golf player. I think we just found the ideal collab for them.

I think we found an ideal collaboration. No, this was a collaboration with the Las Vegas Grand Prix. I don't know if you can see it on the camera. Yeah, I can see. That's cute. Yeah, love it. From La Uno, Las Vegas Grand Prix. Also, Malbon called.

You have an idea, right? What's that? Malbon needs to call us because I have an idea for them. They are, yeah, huge in the golf lifestyle space. Huge, huge brand. They collaborated. I was at the Grand Prix Plaza over the summer. A Formula One had invited me out.

I hung out. I went to the shop. I saw this hoodie. I said, I have to have it. That is incredible. And I have it. It's beautiful. So thank you.

Thank you for complimenting me. It looks really good. I like it. It's like a little bit astronaut meets like Formula One. I like it. That's pretty cool. Tell the people why today was a very exciting day for us. To the people out there that are listening to this, welcome back to the Business of Speed

podcast. Today we have a special, special, special guest on the show that Lali had the opportunity of interviewing and getting to know her a little bit more. I think they're like BFFs now. We are BFFs. I'm so sorry you've been dumped and replaced because this girl is fantastic. It is what it is. It is what it is.

We had Laura Villars, Swiss motorsport or racing driver, 28-year-old, first woman to be running for FIA president, which is actually kind of crazy. It's the first that's ever tried to run. There's actually now two women that are attempting to run, but Laura was the first. And she's kind of been running this campaign, I don't want to say against, but obviously you're running against somebody else. She's been running a great campaign. She's getting a lot of publicity and some people are accusing, not accusing, and I don't want to use that word either, but people are saying that she's just doing this for the press.

And I say good for her if she is, but she's doing a great job of that, getting a lot of attention on things. And I learned a lot from the conversation you had with her. So I guess my question to you is, what was the most fascinating thing you learned in talking to her before we put the episode out and let everyone listen to this? what was the biggest takeaway you had that you want everyone else to take away from that conversation so i think that even just when she announced her her candidacy for the presidency already it really stirred something in me because i thought it was so strange that a woman had never

even attempted to run so that got me a little bit into looking into the rules of becoming president and how it works and i'm almost embarrassed to say that as a lifelong motorsport fan i was quite unclear on the rules of becoming FIA president. So I did a little, I did some digging. And if you've ever wondered what happens when, think of it like politics meets like petrol, this is exactly the FIA. It's a bit of a skull and bones, cloak and dagger organization. It's officially meant to be very democratic and anyone can officially run for president, but unofficially, it's impossible. You I'd have a better luck, a better chance of winning the Monaco Grand Prix than being president of the FIA. And that's the reality, because they have one stick.

They have many rules, but one stickler rule that I that I'll talk about in the interview, you'll hear that. But that I want to super explain to our listeners, because it's it's why nobody else can really run against the incumbent. If the incumbent has support, each candidate needs to have on the ballot seven vice presidents. That means there's one from the MENA region, that's the Middle East and North Africa, one from the rest of Africa, one from North America, one from South America, one from Asia Pacific, and two from Europe. The problem, for instance, and I speak about this in the episode, in the interview, is that for South America, for instance, there's only one eligible VP. There's only one VP. In this case, her name is Fabiana Ecclestone. She's 47 years old. She's the wife of Bernie Ecclestone, who happens to be 94 years old.

And those are just facts and numbers that I'm stating. They are factual. I will give you that. They are factual. Factual information that I'm giving you. And she is on Ben Suleiman's team, the current president of the FIA, which means that Laura and Tim and anybody else who would like to run for a FIA president cannot technically run because there is no other VP to be on their team from South America. So that makes the process very frustrating for people like me who didn't know about it

and have learned about it. And especially for someone like her who would love to come in, would love to instill some actual genuine change, bring some fresh energy. So if you think about it between alliances and rules and like these whispered vetoes And it's really not so much an election. It's more like a coronation with a lot of paperwork and bureaucracy. Yeah. So that was a bit of a great take overall. And talking to her, I think my main take that I found interesting was if she's more of a of a politician or a race car driver and you'll have to listen to find out. Yeah, I think that was very eye-opening. The FIA is not something I have ever deeply studied, right, and paid attention to.

It's the governing body of a bunch of different motorsports series that I enjoy watching. But, you know, you don't really think about all the politics behind it. And to hear how, you know, really over the course of the past couple weeks, because the deadline is coming up in nine days now. And she still has hope that somehow in nine days the FIA will change the rules. Well, hopefully there's enough commotion, you know, from all of this publicity and press that she's getting. Hopefully there's enough that's being stirred up to, I want to say, change the rule. It's probably not going to happen where the rule is going to be changed because, unfortunately, they have to vote on that rule if they do change it or if they make exceptions. And that gets voted on at the same time the president gets elected on the 15th of December.

So it's it's a really, really crazy process, but hopefully it brings to light all of these gaps. You know, the audience that's watching these different series is changing. It continues to change, not just Formula One. There's a FIA, you know, governs a lot of other series. The audience is changing. The people that represent not only those series, but also the governing body need to change over time as well. So this, what I liked about what Laura said to you, one of the things she'll say, and you'll hear that in the podcast, but she talks about how if it's not now, you know, she plans on going for it in 2029 again. And so hopefully between now and then there's some things that change and there's a shakeup. We'll have to see how that plays out. But, you know, it is it is quite it is quite the campaign for someone to be running. Never mind a 28 year old of any gender. Right. 28 years old is a 28 year old. That's impressive. And, you know, never mind being the first woman going after this and all the hurdles that she has to go through right now to even just try to even just to show up on the ballot. Right. That's and it doesn't look likely, but she keeps pushing. So it's an interesting conversation. And I like that we were able to get her on the show. So I'm glad that you listeners get to hear hear Laura and Lali talk about it. Yeah. Listen in and then we'll have some takeaways at the end.

So, first of all, thank you so much for being here. We really appreciate it. It's a big deal what you're doing, and we're really excited to have you with us and to get to know you a little bit better and maybe talk about a little bit of different things. I've read so much about you. I feel I know your life too well. I know too much about you, and I've read a lot of your interviews. So I want to talk maybe a little bit more sort of grounded, realistic things.

So so one of the things I really am curious about is you're entering a race right now that, you know, because you're a very smart person that you technically can't run it like your name cannot be on the ballot. So I'd like to know what what the point is of showing up at the starting line, because it seems like you're actually running a campaign to expose how the presidency is chosen, which I find super intriguing. So I want to hear a little bit about that. Yeah, so first of all, with my team, we decided to have my candidacy in September because for us was the right time. We had to build all our program, talking with each president of each club. So for us was the right time in September. uh in september uh we we had to wait to the world motorsport council to announce all the

person on the list uh it's around 30 people uh that we knew it like end of september to build uh to build the presidential list because with the presidential list uh which is like one president one president of senates one president of sport and one president of mobility plus uh seven vice presidents that are in this world motorsport council list so when you have built this list you need to be approved by 18 clubs um it's a big it's a complicated process and i'm gonna i'm gonna touch on something that people may not know yeah and then i and i'm gonna ask you about how democratic you actually think the process is. So for instance, I'm going to speak only to South America because I'm from South America. I always like to mention I'm from Colombia. It's an ongoing

joke on the podcast that I mentioned I'm from Colombia every chance I can. So to explain to people in very broad terms, to get your name on the ballot, you need to have seven VPs. So for South America, I'm going to explain this to the people, you know this very well, there's only one VP. Her name is Fabiana Ecclestone. And if that name sounds familiar to people, it's because she's the wife of Bernie Ecclestone, right? So I think two things. If there's only one person from South America who can be on your VP list and you require a VP from South America on your list, does that immediately make the process not democratic? Because it technically means only one person can run. And then a side question to that is, has Fabiana

reached out to you have you reached out to her has has there been any communication there so those are sort of two questions no no we we didn't spoke with Fabiana and I sent just a nice message to the actual president he didn't answer me yeah and then right now I'm talking with the FIA to understand um how democratic we can be because actually i'm talking also like with tim meyer and uh yes for now we can't not um put our candidacy uh before the 24th october so we we are waiting for your response from the fia and we will see what's what will happen before 24th october so i read your manifesto and a lot of that you want to really bring transparency into the FIA. That was one of your big missions. And so because it really is a little

bit opaque, you know, as we say in English, a little bit cloak and daggers, and you've drawn attention to that. I'm curious if any very, very high profile people in the paddock, maybe drivers, team members, have reached out to you and said, hey, I support you. I wish there was a path forward for you um maybe some names you can share maybe not but i'm curious if if people have reached out like important people yeah yeah they they are but i am not gonna mention them to them today but i mean the most important thing is when i announced my candidacy everyone was very surprised but in a very good way and i received like thousands of many positive comments so for me was super super nice i was uh yeah i was super happy and uh yeah they all support the the fact

that we need more democracy and uh yeah this is part of the first step that i will um do in my program and for now we are just waiting for your response so i cannot tell you more about it i'm sure i'm sure i i've just seen just anecdotally i i do feel that some of the drivers they can't say anything um specifically against perhaps the the current president but i can see sometimes a little bit of animosity so i was wondering um i'll move on so so motorsport always says that change has to come from inside the system and you're a driver you know that it often does for instance we have uh terrible crashes or even deaths and what happens it brings change that makes the sport safer for everyone from within the system so you're trying to do something really big which

is change the system from inside the system but it's set up in a way that you can't really get in so i want to know right now what is a plan b what do you consider a win right now uh the win right now is to to share all my program and this project that i i'm in since few few months and the most important will be to bring this program until the end and uh yeah i mean i hope they will take my ideas and uh we we can continue because my the most important goal at the moment it's uh to develop the programs for the young people for the women so for motorsport this is a very strong uh thing that we need to do and on the other side for the mobility we need to continue the progress that have been made uh for the fia uh so the zero roads uh safety so i want zero

deaths by 2035 we need more sustainability so we need to see what's going on this year with the new formula one uh in 2026 to see with the sustainable gas how we can how we can progress how we can talk uh with constructors and this is things of that are part of my program that i want to, to keep. We all, we all really want you to keep. There's a lot of people behind the scenes who are really rooting for you and that are very disappointed. I, I'm going to ask you sort of a more fun question. Um, I want you to pick, pick one of these two things. Okay. You only get to pick one. You get to be FIA president or you get a full-time drive with a top team in world endurance championship like um porsche uh porsche penske or cadillac and you win the 24 hours of

limo you can only pick one for now i'm fighting for a fia president i will keep this interesting um so i think that leads me to to my next one it because this is a bit of a of a race that we know we we sort of know how this race is going to end let's say it that way you have gotten a lot of press lately you've become very well known in racing circles is this perhaps helping bringing some sponsorships for next year maybe there's some big races that you will you will participate in next year is how has this because there are some people who say she knows she can't win is this a PR stunt right of course like the people haters are going to hate at all times but I'm curious if it's helped your your racing career and I really hope it has drawn attention so tell us a

little bit about the 2026 racing program so for yet for myself I didn't decide yet what I'm going to do next year but for sure what I want to do and I got of course many contacts many sponsors many opportunities and the most important goal for me will be to develop this young academy for young people so this will be the goal with all the sponsor we're gonna try to build it I hope from next year or the next month. So this will be a part of the main program. So after the elections in December, December 12th, we have the elections.

And so 2026 is more focused on continuing the goals you've set out in your manifesto to help in the FIA more so than racing. And I ask because if you remember earlier in the year, Carlos Sainz Sr. was going to run for FIA president as well, but he he he removed himself from consideration because he wants to focus on winning another Dakar and so I'm thinking I don't know very much but I'm thinking that doing both at the same time is incompatible that it takes what you're doing takes a lot of time and also trying to pursue a

very big racing dream is it's not compatible to do it at the same time so you're going to put the racing on the side for a little bit next year uh yes if I'm elected I cannot do both so I'm going to put the racing side uh you know on the side so it's not a problem i mean i want to fight on my ideas and my program so yeah i would be fully focused on it and sometimes i can still race this is not a problem but yeah not fully not fully i i want to tell you something until you ran for for the presidency i really had never looked at the rules of of what it took right so i think that already that in and of itself is a win you've made people very aware and you've put a spotlight on something that is a system that is perhaps archaic would you say that's the word yeah yeah

I will say this I will say yeah I will say that this old FIA that is more than 121 years now that needed a fresh and young like vision and that's why also for me it was very important to come uh i think many people already told me like wow we we could see it we could understand more uh the program is very interesting so this is yeah of course i'm proud of this but it shows also to the new generation that when we we are focused we work hard we can go to somewhere we we really want uh no matter the age because it's not a matter of age but uh more a fight with yourself and yeah it's interesting because a lot of people talk about ageism in in the back end like being older and how older women perhaps don't get a lot of opportunities even though

they're very qualified you're facing a little bit the opposite ageism because you're too young for some people to do something yeah I mean the most important when you are doing something is to have good people around you I always I had a big opportunity that's why I came into this candidacy I had a good team around me experimented and older people and that's why I could I could go I'm I'm learning every day from them we go we build everything together and I was it's a super experience that we did and I'm super happy to share everything with you with the public with the newspapers yeah it's something very important and I think in life even when you are president you have very good people around you that are qualified and even if I become president of FIA

of course all the people that work in FIA are there since many years they have a lot of experience and I will be there to represent as a president and to talk with them understand and work together this is the the main goal I think that you've you've said something very interesting people people don't realize this is this is a group effort when you're president it's not you're not going you're not the dictator of the fia this is not a dictatorship it's a presidency she's going to have a team around her whoever the president is has an enormous team around them of people who are very experienced in different areas of of motorsports and um so so the concern perhaps that you're not qualified is is a little bit um uninformed because no one no one who gets a job

as a president for the first time of anything has any experience doing that job. It's the first time they're doing it. So you have put together a team. You will be surrounded by people when you become president one day. Hopefully, I'm hoping that 2029 is your year. And I hope you work hard toward that goal and that you continue to because there has to be some change. I think that the system has been set up in a way that is very undemocratic and that doesn't even allow for fair competition that's really that's really something you've drawn attention to it's like you're not even getting a fair chance to run yeah I know your eyes say it all I am still uh yeah talking with the FIA to see which what will be the chances so maybe things can change before 24th

October and I really I really hope so um so let's see but anyway I will continue for uh 2029 and yeah we'll uh we'll keep this keep my program this is the most important for me will you be at any f1 races coming up in this year uh yes uh we'll come soon i will not tell you yet where but we'll talk off camera to see if we'll be at the same race yeah exactly uh laura thank you so much for stopping by today it's been an absolute pleasure to meet you you have such a great energy i i really think you're exactly what the fi needs a breath of fresh air thank you so much thanks thank you very much and i hope to see you soon yeah and i will text you for the for the next f1 races i'll be here i think there's a lot to learn from that and i think there's also

a lot to continue building on one of the things that i really i guess i know you and i had mentioned this a little bit earlier about good old boys clubs and whatnot and and different things but she's really confronting this ageism from the opposite side right and being told that she's too young it's interesting right as a woman i feel like and i'm not trying to make this some kumbaya moment for women but it's funny we're either too young too old too pretty too ugly too tall too short too skinny too overweight it's like when is it the correct moment you know we're too prepared we're too unprepared so so good on her and and after the interview ended she and I stayed on for a little bit and I'm lucky that I speak

French so she and I had a very frank conversation and she told me she spoke a little bit about the level of sort of bullying and trolling that she's been receiving and it's completely unfair that we live in this society where she's just trying to do a good thing. There's no ill will behind her run. She doesn't want to do it to screw it up. She's doing it with the best of intentions and wanting to genuinely bring in some new insights, new energy, a youthful, you know, ambience in general to the organization. But she's been heavily trolled, bullied. She's been the recipient of some abuse, which is terrible. And still she says, you know what? Yeah, I want, I'd rather do I couldn't believe when I asked her if she would rather be FIA president or win the 24 Hours du Monde, the 24 Hours of Le Monde, that she would rather be FIA president.

I was shocked. But it showed me how passionate she is about it. You know, to me, that's everyone. I want the glory of being a champion. I want to drive the car. I want to drive fast. So for somebody 28 years old, much younger than I am, who is saying, no, I'm actually interested in governing this and being a leader in that regard, that takes passion. It's a different type of passion, but that takes passion. And that takes a drive to really challenge these entrenched systems. FIA has been around for 120 years, whatever it is. You don't change things by stepping back,

right? The only way you can change things is by challenging them, is by pushing forward, making noise. The saying, the squeaky wheel gets the grease, that's at least an American saying. I don't know if other people understand it. We say it in Colombia too, but it's a little bit more perverse. It's probably, yeah. It's about babies and breastfeeding. I don't know why, but ours is a little bit more perverse. I like the squeaky wheel. Well, there's also clothes mouths don't get fed there's that that saying as well that's i'm gonna say ours in spanish for our spanish listeners go ahead you know you're a no mama as any latino will know that it is interesting to me what you're saying because you and i are lovers of motorsports so

you and i would take the 24 hours to me that's the glory especially because she currently is racing in sports cars you know in lige and so i was very surprised and and nobody had asked her that yet. And I hope that that opened some eyes to show her level of commitment toward this, because I dangled the ultimate carrot. This is the ultimate carrot for someone who's in racing, who's in sports cars, sports car racing. You get a full time drive, Porsche, Penske, full time drive, Cadillac, you win the 24 Hours of Le Mans. And she still said, no, I choose to be FIA president. That should show her level of commitment. This is not some thing that she's just done for press this is something that she's taking very seriously she's

going to pursue for the next four years and run again in 29 god bless her i mean i'm rooting for her i always like to root for the underdog so she she is the true underdog in this scenario yeah out of all of the candidates you know she is the true underdog yeah you know i'm glad we got to have her on it's it's really cool sometimes you see these things from afar and you think my goodness these people are larger than life and it's like no they're just they're normal people who just want change like the rest of us right i mean she's challenging she's challenging that status quo like anyone else would and it's a signal to the younger generation to other you know women and you know and girls hey you can you can make a difference if you want to or if you

want to try if you want to put it out there like this is what you have to do and yeah i i admire her fight and i admire the you know what she's going through and doing right now and you know this is only going to be the first step yep thank you everyone for listening in i hope you enjoyed that interview with laura villers she's fantastic she promised she'd be on the show in the future so maybe in 2026 we'll have her again after the duck were settled with the election we'll do a little follow up with her. Thank you, everyone. Thank you. Ciao.