Carlos Sainz breaks silence as his dad faces Mohammed Ben Sulayem fight for FIA presidency

Carlos Sainz has backed his father, Carlos Sainz Snr, to ‘remove the politics’ if he becomes FIA president. The rallying legend has opened the door to a campaign for the role, which will be contested later this year as Mohammed Ben Sulayem’s term comes to an end. Following a raft of key FIA departures, unpopular rule changes and multiple controversies - including one that produced a lawsuit from F1 Academy director Susie Wolff - Ben Sulayem’s popularity is at an all-time low. However, he has, thus far, been short of significant opposition candidates as the presidential election approaches.

That is, until now. Ahead of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, Carlos Sainz Snr announced that he is considering putting together a bid to battle Ben Sulayem for the presidency. His son has now thrown his weight behind the prospective campaign. “We’ve been talking about it for a while now,” he revealed. “Interestingly enough, I think it’s something that didn’t actually come from him, like a lot of people were kind of putting it in his head, and little by little, he started considering it.

“I think the key is that he still hasn’t put together a team, but he’s considering it, and depending obviously how he sees it, he will go for it or not. I think that’s a negative side now of it, the politics, but I think that if there’s a guy that could remove politics from it, it could be my dad because he sticks to common sense and has very basic rules of going about life.

“And I think that’s why so many people went to him, to push him maybe to potentially do it. So there’s politics, he will probably not enjoy that part of the work, but he knows it’s part of it.”

Sainz Jnr believes that his father’s vast motorsport experience will give him a leg up, should his potential bid prove successful. The 63-year-old is a two-time World Rally champion, and has won the legendary Dakar Rally four times, with the most recent triumph coming in 2024.

“I’m biased, but just honestly speaking from the most objective position possible, it doesn’t come to my head anyone that has lived through all the karting days with his son and knows the roots of motorsport in go-karting, as he did four or five years of go-karting with me,” he continued.

“He did four or five years of single-seaters with me, knowing how tough, expensive, and difficult that ladder is. He’s done 10 years in Formula One with me. He’s done 40 years of rallying.

“He does a lot of mobility, working in Spain, so a guy that covers so many experiences in so many different areas of motorsport, coming to the end of his career, obviously in racing, and trying to find a way to give back to motorsports what motorsports has given to him.

“I think he is - from the most objective position that I can find, obviously being his son - a very optimal candidate. Whether he will decide to do it or not, it’s obviously completely up to him.”