FIA: Carlos Sainz Sr considering running for president

Rally legend Carlos Sainz Sr is considering running for president of the FIA, motorsport’s governing body, in December’s election.

The 63-year-old two-time world champion told motorsport.com, external he was “in the process of figuring out how much support I will get in the community of motorsport”.

Sainz – who is also a four-time winner of the Dakar Rally, on which this year he was still competing – would be running against current FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem, whose term in office since 2021 has been beset by controversy.

Ben Sulayem has not yet formally declared his intention to run again, but is known to be intending to. No other potential candidate has yet declared interest.

Sainz said: “This possibility has been in my mind for some time now, not very deeply, but now I think it could be the right time in my career for me to take the step.

“I’m confident I can do a good job and put together an excellent team to give back to the sport part of what it has given me.

“I have accumulated a lot of experience in this sport throughout the years and I’m certain I can bring new and interesting things, to strengthen and develop the sport and the automobile world.”

Sainz is widely regarded as a man of seriousness and integrity, as well as unquestionably an all-time great in his field. Sources say he is a consequential candidate and would have widespread support from within the sport.

Sainz said there would be no conflict of interest with the fact that his son Carlos is an active F1 driver with Williams.

“I have my track record and people know me well enough to understand that this will not be an issue,” Sainz said. “Obviously, I will have to step down regarding my role with Carlos and his career but this is not an issue at all.

“He’s not a child any more, he has been in F1 for a decade now and we both know that if I go ahead with this project our relationship will change, of course.

“The FIA is a very serious entity and there will be no conflict.”

Ben Sulayem suffered a blow to his presidency with the resignation of his deputy president for sport, Robert Reid, last month.

Reid quit citing “a fundamental breakdown in governance standards” within the FIA.

On the day Reid announced his resignation, the former FIA chief executive officer Natalie Robyn broke the silence she had maintained since being forced to resign last summer after 18 months in the role.

Robyn told BBC Sport the FIA had “serious ongoing structural challenges”, adding that “professional processes are not adhered to and stakeholders are excluded from decision-making”.

Robyn’s departure came after she raised questions about the general governance of the FIA and its professional practices, including finances in the president’s office.

Her departure was followed by those of the head of the audit committee Bertrand Badre, a former head of the World Bank, and audit committee member Tom Purves, a former BMW executive.

In November, Ben Sulayem fired FIA compliance officer Paolo Basarri, who in March last year looked into allegations that Ben Sulayem interfered in the operations of the Saudi Arabian and Las Vegas Grands Prix in 2023. Ben Sulayem was cleared following an investigation by the FIA’s ethics committee.

The FIA is currently the subject of legal action by Susie Wolff, the boss of the F1 Academy for aspiring female drivers, after a controversial conflict of interest inquiry into her and her husband, Toto Wolff, the boss of Mercedes motorsport.

Senior FIA figures have also raised concerns about Ben Sulayem’s decision to change the statutes of the governing body last year to reduce accountability.

And at last weekend’s Miami Grand Prix, Grand Prix Drivers’ Association director George Russell called for action rather than words from the FIA on the controversy over censures for swearing and criticising the governing body.

The FIA is also yet to explain the circumstances behind the return to the organisation of former interim secretary general Shaila-Ann Rao, a little over two years after she left the organisation following a difficult relationship with Ben Sulayem.