Carlos Sainz views upon his father potentially filing for FIA President, as some of the F1 drivers share their thoughts on the potential move.
Between the races in Miami and Imola, news broke that Sainz Sr was potentially looking at FIA President role from 2026 onward and go against current President Mohammed Ben Sulayem, who seeks re-election after his term ends at the end of this year after taking over in 2021.
His presidential term has been marred with separate controversies, which included the departure of his deputy Robert Reid few weeks back amid resistance from Motorsport UK body. Sulayem still has support from several ASNs, which will help him in the elections unless Sainz Sr puts up a good team.
The discussions came up within the Sainz family few weeks when everyone in the paddock pushed Sainz Sr to go for the FIA top job considering his experience and know-how. He is in the process of understanding how everything works up to stand for election.
The conflict of interest has been downplayed by his son Sainz Jr, who currently races for Williams in F1. In any way possible, the Spaniard doesn’t wish to harm his father’s image and potential presidential campaign. He hasn’t filed for nomination just yet, since he has to have a team of people first.
That’s what Sainz Sr is focusing on, as his son feels standing up for FIA President could be a good move away from his racing career, which is close to an end. He could still be part of motor racing, but give back in a different way to help the sport grow in various sectors.
Sainz Jr knows that the politics around it will be harmful, but it is something that his father can handle, even if naysayers are large in numbers. Several of the F1 drivers voiced their support for the Spaniard to file his nomination, should he seriously wish to stand for it.
What Sainz Jr said –
Presidential talks: “Obviously, we’ve been talking about it for a while now. Interestingly enough, it’s something that didn’t actually come from him. A lot of people in the paddock were kind of putting it in his head, and little by little, he started considering it. Now he’s obviously thinking about it. The key is that he still hasn’t put together a team, but he’s considering it, and depending how he sees it, he will go for it or not. I can just tell you that he’s considering it seriously. Like he said, he’s evaluating all options, now starting to think about what people, individuals, he would like to have in his team. He’s trying to understand how the elections work, how many people he needs to go and talk to. He’s evaluating the whole thing and trying to understand how everything works. It’s his thing now. I’m obviously busy here with Williams doing my own thing, so I’m leaving it to him in a way. He gives me an update of the situation every one or two weeks, how much progress he’s doing, or what the situation is. He wants my opinion, but not more than that.
Good for it: “I’m his son, so I’m biased. Honestly, speaking from the most objective position possible, nobody [better] comes to my head, anyone who has lived through all the karting days with his son and knows the roots of motor sport in go-karting as he did four or five years of karting with me. 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 F1 with me. He’s done 40 years of rallying. He does a lot of mobility work in Spain on some campaign. So a guy that covers so many experiences in so many different areas of motorsport, coming to the end of his career in racing, and trying to find a way to give back to motorsport what motorsport has given to him. It’s the most objective position that I can find being his son. He’s obviously a very optimal candidate. Whether he will decide to do it or not, is completely up to him. As I said, it didn’t actually came from him, it came from other people in the paddock this year and he started looking at it. It is actually not much from me, but people come to him and suggest him.”
Politics, conflict of interest: “I think that’s a negative side, the politics. But I think that if there’s a guy who could remove politics from it, it could be my dad because he sticks to common sense and very basic rules of going about life. That’s why so many people went to him to push him to potentially do it. There’s politics, he will probably not enjoy that part of the work – but he knows it’s part of it and he will have to [do it]. In terms of conflict, I’ve been trying to think of scenarios where it could, but I actually don’t see any way how that could be seen. If anything, obviously he will be extremely careful, I will be extremely careful because the last thing that I want is my or his image or career to be damaged by that situation. So if anything we would do the opposite effect and I don’t see any conflict of being… there is the moment you personally know my dad or you personally know me. We are honest people that would never ever compromise that situation in motorsport.”
Handling negativity: “He seems more up for it in a way where he has a thicker enough skin to deal with it. My mum maybe not so much, come on like you are about to retire, give yourself a break or do something, not so demanding as this but my dad is just nonstop, he loves motorsport, he loves racing and he sees an opportunity to put an end to his racing career but still do something actively and find ways to give back to motorsport and give back to the FIA, an entity that he has a lot of respect for all these years. He knows what the FIA has dones for the last 20-30 years to safety, to improve everyone’s life here. He feels like he could give back and that motivates him.”
GPDA role, family trait: “I guess so, in the end we are similar characters, I am the son of him, he’s been my mentor, my whole life, we talk on the phone everyday, so inevitably I am going to have traits from him and personality things that match, although many people say we are actually very different in characteristics, we have very similar way of thinking sometimes. So yeah, it could be, obviously from the GPDA perspective, I have a lot of insight to the things that could be potentially improved inside the FIA and the Formula 1 world including even rallying and the feedback we received from the rally drivers’ association. The insight that I am giving him, all the things that could have been better is also written down and considering and thinking what he could also do better. In general, the target is to improve the wellbeing of the federation and improve the world of motorsport.”
What other F1 drivers said –
George Russell: “Carlos Sr is an extremely respected individual within the whole motorsport industry, not just Formula 1, not just rallying. He has so much experience in this world. He of course would be a fantastic candidate, if that’s what he wished to do. I was quite surprised when I saw it initially. But when you think about it properly, I think it makes a lot of sense. And no, not at all [in terms of conflict of interest]. You’re so far sort of removed ultimately from a technical standpoint. It’s down to the technical people within the FIA to be the rule makers.
“The president in years gone by has probably been far less involved than what we’ve seen recently and far less visible. We always knew who the president of the FIA was, especially with Jean Todt, but you’re working in the background, you’re not working in the forefront. So I don’t see there ever being a conflict. If anything, it could only benefit the sport having Carlos with the inside knowledge of Formula 1 from a driver’s perspective and then Carlos Sr’s knowledge from motorsport generally. It could be a brilliant recipe.”
Fernando Alonso: “I read the news and I actually spoke with Carlos on Sunday for different topics and yeah, we spoke about this thing and obviously he has a lot of experience in motorsport. He knows a lot of people in motorsport as well what maybe the sport needs in this side of the barrier, lets say. So, it could be a fresh approach, but at the same time, this is a FIA thing, this is a… The whole sport needs to agree on something and, we’ll see what happens. But obviously he will be always a great candidate because he knows what the sport needs from this side, that is what we like, the drivers.”
Lewis Hamilton: “I don’t really know much, I have only met him couple of times. There’s nothing more to say, he’s had an amazing career and he is incredible at what he does even to this day. That’s all I know.”
Max Verstappen: “I read about that a little bit, I do think that he’s very well respected in the world here and the rally world, of course people will always say that he’s conflicting with his son, but I think he’s professional enough to keep that separate from each other. So yeah, I think, it would be great if he runs for President. You can fill that [if he can be better than Mohammed Ben Sulayem] in yourself. It’s stupid for me to comment on that here.”
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