The FIA World Motor Sport Council convened today, 11 December, for its final meeting of 2024. Taking place during the FIA General Assemblies Week in Kigali, Rwanda, the meeting was chaired by President Mohammed Ben Sulayem with WMSC members joining in person and via video conference.
In his opening address, the FIA President lauded 2024 as a year of progression and a strengthened Federation, noting significant investment from the FIA across global grassroots activities alongside substantial research and development in the safety, volunteers, and officials spaces.
The President reported on major progress since the previous WMSC gathering which took place in October.
Welcoming and thanking the Members for their efforts, the President addressed the council, saying:
“This year has been a time of change and growth. We have built a stronger organisation redefining our leadership with high-level appointments that bring a wealth of professional experience to the Federation.
“Together, we are forging the future of global motor sport and as we celebrate 120 years of the FIA, we honour the achievements of our past while propelling ourselves to a future driven by innovation and purpose.
“The FIA is on the right track – in particular, I would like to thank Stefano Domenicali and Formula 1 for our strong and productive partnership this year. The 2024 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season was record-breaking and highly competitive, and we continue our collaboration with Formula 1 and General Motors as we move towards an eleventh team on the grid from 2026.”
President Ben Sulayem also shared details of the FIA’s financial year end-report, noting:
“We continue to implement a strong commercial strategy and robust accounting process, reducing our deficit and successfully meeting our objective of being a financially sustainable federation.”
Vision 2030: FIA Motorsport Strategy
World Council members were presented with the FIA’s strategic vision for sport for 2025-2030. Shared by the Secretary General for Sport, Valerio Iachizzi, and shaped by the input of Member Clubs, the plan embraces the future with confidence and purpose.
The new vision is underpinned by five key pillars – values that unite the global motorsport community: strengthening the FIA brand, ensuring global accessibility, diversity and inclusion, advancing innovation, technology, and education, leadership in sustainability and environment, and secured financial growth and reinvestment.
These pillars are the building blocks for the seven strategic objectives within the plan:
- Expand global accessibility and reach
- Advance innovation and technology within motorsport
- Promote environmental sustainability across all FIA activities and areas
- Enhance education, diversity, and inclusion within the motorsport community
- Ensure long-term financial stability, growth and reinvestment
- Lead the development of global motorsport standards
- Foster stronger partnerships with key stakeholders
Connecting communities and driving innovation, the strategic vision looks to pave an ambitious path forward to ensure motor sport thrives. This strategy will help the FIA remain relevant, drive growth, and ensure motorsport’s long-term sustainability as a global leader in entertainment and innovation.
More details will be shared in 2025.
The following is a summary of decisions taken at today’s WMSC meeting:
WRC27 Technical Regulations lay groundwork for a dynamic and flexible FIA World Rally Championship
The World Motor Sport Council has approved new 2027 Technical Regulations for the FIA World Rally Championship, focusing on cost reduction, flexibility, and sustainability.
These rules, developed through extensive consultation and collaboration between the WRC stakeholders, include significant cost reduction compared to the current Rally1 formula and introduce innovative design options, allowing a wide variety of production car shapes and bespoke rally designs to compete.
The regulations also embrace diverse powertrain solutions, an approach that reflects the evolving automotive landscape and ensures environmental sustainability remains central to the sport’s future. The initial target is for competitors to utilise sustainably-fuelled internal combustion engines in 2027, with diversification including hybrid systems, or fully electric technologies, that could be introduced at a later stage.
Global Karting Plan
The FIA has announced the creation of an unprecedented Global Karting Plan that establishes a clearer and more accessible pathway into and throughout the FIA Karting system. Karting is the entry point for the vast majority of motor sport competitors, and the plan focuses on increasing accessibility to the discipline that will provide equal opportunities to drivers all over the world.
Through a gradual implementation phase over the next three years, with the first steps taken already in 2025, including first editions of the arrive and drive world cup as well as the Karting Excellence Centre selection.
For more information on the Global Karting Plan, click here.
Esports
Another significant step in the development of Esports competitions has come today, as the World Council approved the creation of an FIA Esports Code (Appendix E) – the first such framework created by a global sporting federation.
All real-world motor sport competitions are ultimately governed by the International Sporting Code, and as virtual racing continues to grow rapidly, the FIA Esports Code will regulate Esports racing competitions, providing the ASNs with the necessary legal framework to conduct such events at the national level.
After sanctioning two Esports competitions during the 2024 FIA Motorsport Games, it is anticipated that many more events will be sanctioned in the coming years. There are fundamental elements that have always existed within the ISC, such as the definition of an automobile or a driver, that have had to be changed within the Esports Code so that they make sense within this new frontier of racing.
FIA-AI
The FIA’s Technical and Safety Department is working on introducing new systems that leverage artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance and improve the level of information available to decision-makers.
AI has a potentially large range of motor sport applications, and current areas of focus include:
- Improving safety standards and introducing preventive measures to reduce incidents
- Improving efficiency by automating tasks and allowing more time for personnel to carry out more valuable and complex tasks.
- Improving fairness and consistency in decision making by providing recommendations based on previous records or automating the detection of infringements, such as for track limits in circuit racing.
The FIA is committed to continuing development of this huge potential transversally across the organisation, adding value for all of the different motor sport categories.
United Against Online Abuse
Members heard an end of year report detailing the 2024 activity from the United Against Online Abuse (UAOA) coalition and the forecast for 2025.
During the final quarter of 2024 the coalition grew by 63% welcoming new signatories from ARISF and the Namibian Government, along with endorsements from UNESCO and the FIH.
Community engagement remains a key pillar of the UAOA coalition and an element for growth in 2025, while research has been significantly expanded across different sectors of the sporting community with a first of its kind report into the abuse faced by sports journalists now launched.
More details on the Sport Journalist Barometer can be found here.
Regulatory updates:
FIA Formula One World Championship
The FIA President, together with the President and CEO of FOM, Stefano Domenicali, reflected on a hugely successful season in 2024, which was the longest in the history of the sport. The productivity of the single-seater pyramid, which stretches from Karting through to Formula 1, was highlighted, with no fewer than four drivers stepping up from the FIA Formula 2 Championship into Formula 1 in 2025.
Minor updates to the 2025 Sporting and Technical Regulations were approved by the World Council, including the finalisation of ‘Heat Hazard’ regulations which mandates the use of a driver cooling kit under certain, extreme weather conditions. This device was developed in collaboration between the FIA and the F1 teams over the past year.
A number of updates to the 2025 and 2026 Financial Regulations were approved to include an expanded definition of ‘Sustainability Initiatives’ that are excluded from the cost cap to encourage the continued push towards greater environmental sustainability.
Updates to the 2026 Sporting Regulations were updated to reflect changes already approved for 2025, in addition to the adoption of gender-neutral language throughout.
The 2026 Technical Regulations have also been refined, ahead of teams being able to work on the aerodynamics for the first time beginning on 1 January 2025.
A new section of regulations is being created for 2026 called Operational Regulations, aiming to regulate certain F1 Team activities that take place away from the race weekend. For this initial version of these regulations, certain elements that have historically been included in the Sporting Regulations have been transferred, such as limitations to aerodynamic testing, power unit testing and mandatory shutdown periods.
FIA World Rally Championship
An evolution of the points-scoring system introduced at the start of the 2024 season has been voted for 2025 following a year of evaluation and review.
For each Championship or Cup title, points will be awarded based on the general classification of each rally using the following scale: 25 / 17 / 15 / 12 / 10 / 8 / 6 / 4 / 2 / 1 for positions 1st to 10th.
In the FIA World Rally Championships for Manufacturers, Drivers, and Co-Drivers, additional points (five for first place down to one for fifth) will be granted based on an accumulated general classification from Sunday only. This includes the section from the first time control after the overnight regroup to the final time control of the competition element, accounting for all time penalties accrued during this segment. Power Stage points (5 to 1) will also continue to be awarded, as is currently the case.
The revised format brings simplification by removing Saturday points, reduces the chances of a rally winner scoring fewer points than the second-placed competitor, and continue to enhance Sunday’s excitement and competitiveness. The “Super Sunday” format will maintain its role as a critical competition day, while the Power Stage remains a key element for broadcasters and fans alike.
On the side of promotion, media or VIP passenger rides in the third shakedown pass will now be offered on the basis of one P1 car per manufacturer in order to reduce the obligation on the teams to make all cars available, while maintaining exposure opportunities for WRC Promoter, the teams and organisers with rides available for high-value passengers.
To create new features within manufacturer teams and enhance storytelling, a competing crew performing service on the car during the competition will now be able to get physical assistance by another P1 crew entered under the same competitor license and nominated to score points
Furthermore, as part of the regulations updates implemented around the future introduction of a “command centre”, the transmission of data between a team and a competing vehicle or communication to/from the crew will be enabled if performed through WRC Promoter for non-sporting purposes, and controlled and administered by the FIA.
Regarding environmental management, the sporting regulations have been updated to include the objectives of the FIA’s approved environmental strategy for the upcoming season and amended with the appropriate terminology.
ABB FIA Formula E World Championship
The financial regulations for teams have also been updated as follows: an allowance of 100 000 € per crash (limited to a maximum of 2 instances and 200 000 € per season), has been granted in the case of a crash causing a survival cell replacement.
FIA World Rally-Raid Commission
A series of proposals has been approved in the FIA Cross-Country Rally Sporting Regulations to finalise the deployment of the FIA torque meter as the primary system for monitoring and controlling powertrain performance in Ultimate group cars. These provisions define the legal framework for the use of such systems, alongside the responsibilities of Competitors and the rights of the FIA Technical Delegate.
Based on an analysis of data from the Rallye du Maroc last October, a progressive penalty scale has been established for infringements related to the use of the FIA torque meter system in the W2RC. The scale imposes a sporting penalty of 10 seconds per infringement for up to five infringements, 30 seconds for six to ten infringements, or a fixed penalty of 10 minutes per stage for more than ten infringements.
Cross-Country Rally Commission
Following a comprehensive review of the points-scoring system introduced at the start of the 2024 World and Regional Baja Cups, the Cross-Country Rally Commission has assessed its impact on competition and engagement throughout the year. While the system successfully maintained suspense up to the final race, feedback from competitors highlighted a need for better recognition of the overall classification performance.
In response, and after conducting extensive simulations, a revised format has been adopted, integrating points from both the overall classification and group classification, ensuring that absolute performance and group-specific achievements are both rewarded, while providing competitors across all categories with a fair opportunity to secure strong final standings.
Points will now be awarded to registered competitors for each Baja event by combining their final overall classification and group classification results, based on the following scale for positions 1st through 15th and beyond: 30 / 25 / 20 / 17 / 15 / 13 / 11 / 9 / 8 / 7 / 6 / 5 / 4 / 3 / 2 points, with one point allocated to retired crews.
Additionally, points will be awarded to registered competitors for each Baja stage under the same format. First place will earn five points, with points decreasing to one point for fifth place. For prologue stages, three points will be allocated for first place, two points for second, and one point for third.
Rally Commission
The 2025 calendars for the FIA African, CODASUR, NACAM Rally Championship as well as European Rally Trophy have been approved.
Click here to view a list of calendars approved today by the World Council.
Touring Car Commission
The 2025 Kumho FIA TCR World Tour calendar has been approved as follows:
Truck Racing Commission
The World Council approved the extension of Goodyear as the official title partner and exclusive tyre supplier for the period covering 2025-2027 seasons. Under the new agreement the championship will continue to be known as the Goodyear FIA European Truck Racing Championship.
The 2025 Goodyear FIA European Truck Racing Championship calendar has been approved as follows:
Drag Racing Commission
The 2025 FIA European Drag Racing Championship calendar has been approved as follows:
2025 World Motor Sport Council Meetings
| Date | Venue |
| 26 February | Virtual |
| 10 June | Within the framework of the FIA Conference |
| 16 October | Virtual |
| 10 December | Within the framework of the FIA General Assemblies |