Carlos Sainz responds to father’s aborted FIA presidential bid

Carlos Sainz revealed his disappointment “as a motorsport fan” at seeing his father, Carlos Sainz Sr, confirm he will not be running for FIA presidency later this year.

While the Williams driver admitted he was not disappointed on a familial level to see his dad drop out of consideration, he believes “many motorsport people” would have wanted to see him in the role.

Carlos Sainz responds to father dropping FIA presidential exploration

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

While rallying legend Sainz Sr never formally announced a bid to run against incumbent Mohammed Ben Sulayem later this year, he did reveal he was considering a challenge.

Speculation around a run ended on Wednesday, however, when Sainz Sr released a statement confirming he would not be pursuing a presidential bid, citing that “the present circumstances are not ideal to set the grounds for my candidacy,” alongside compromising his existing rallying preparation.

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When asked by media including PlanetF1.com if he was disappointed to see his father not running to lead the FIA, Sainz replied: “As his son, no. As a motorsport fan, yes.

“I think many motorsport people would have liked to see my dad giving it a go and seeing what he could have done for the sport, but as his son, and after evaluating a bit also with him, all the things he had to get involved with and [would] have to take care of, to confirm and to have any possibility of running for that presidency, I think I understand why he’s not doing it and why he’s letting it go and focusing on his own stuff.”

The former Ferrari driver believes the door is not completely shut on a future presidential bid from his father, but explained his belief that the current state of the FIA made it the right time to consider going for the job.

“Never say never,” Sainz said of a potential future bid.

“I think the ideal time was now, given the state of the situation that everything is in, I think it was the ideal moment for him to go in and and try to have a positive effect.

“I don’t know if that will be ideal in four or eight years’ time,” he added. “I’ll never say never, but right now, for sure, he’s not interested anymore.”