What Carlos Sainz Sr’s withdrawal means for FIA leadership contest

And then there was one. Perhaps we should not have been surprised to see Carlos Sainz Sr decide not to pursue a late push for the FIA presidency.

After all, last month, Mohammed Ben Sulayem received a timely boost via a letter of support signed by 36 clubs, the majority of which are based in the Americas.

The letter gushed about his leadership, with its signatories “expressing their gratitude for his service, commitment and vision”.

It came at a time when Ben Sulayem needed it most. He was reeling, nose bloodied from a rather public berating by Motorsport UK chairman David Richards, who had accused Ben Sulayem of “a shift of the moral compass” amid several changes within the FIA.

Richards’ open letter was compounded by the resignation of Robert Reid from his role as the deputy presidency for sport amid a backdrop of restructuring, which critics said would reduce accountability and undermine good governance within F1’s governing body.

There were additional murky accusations of non-disclosure agreements for meetings, the sackings of the FIA’s head of compliance, its audit committee, chief executive, and not to mention the F1 race director, Niels Wittich – it all painted a difficult picture for Ben Sulayem.

It is an understatement to say his reign has been anything but turbulent, which is why when Autosport exclusively revealed Sainz was considering standing against the current president, there was an overwhelming wave of support.

A number of senior F1 figures welcomed the news, but not necessarily because it threatened Ben Sulayem’s reign. Sainz is a hugely likeable figure and vastly experienced and standing for president was in the best interests of competitiveness, for it offered voting members an alternative choice.

However, while Sainz assessed his options, including juggling his own commitments with the Dakar Rally, he was also operating against a countdown clock that meant his fledgling presidential campaign was already a few laps down on Ben Sulayem.

Surely, if he already had doubts about getting the necessary votes to challenge Ben Sulayem, the letter of support from the 36 member clubs would have confirmed his fears.

After all, Ben Sulayem has been working the room for months and as proved, has great support within the organisation, despite what news emanates from within the walls of the FIA headquarters at 8 Place de la Concorde in Paris.

To his credit, Ben Sulayem did welcome Sainz’s decision to contemplate standing for election. In May he responded to Sainz’s comments saying “let him stand. That is democracy”.

However, his decision not to do so now means Ben Sulayem is set to run unopposed in the December election and likely to be offered a new term in office that will run until 2029.

Perhaps, too, there should be no surprise that another candidate would not step up at the 11th hour. Uncontested elections in sport are not uncommon.

Mohammed ben Sulayem, FIA President

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

In football, Sepp Blatter was voted in as FIFA president unopposed in 2011 after his rival Mohammed Bin Hammam withdrew amid bribery allegations. Blatter, who was FIFA president for 17 years until he was banned amid a corruption scandal in 2015, was replaced by Gianni Infantino, who himself was re-elected in 2023 after standing unopposed. And the current president of the World Anti-Doping Agency, Witold Banka, was also re-elected with no challenge in May for another term.

As such, it is difficult to understand where Ben Sulayem currently sits. Ultimately, another term allows him extra time to fulfil the proposal in his manifesto and deliver on his promises, which were reiterated in the letter signed by 36 member clubs.

Having no opposition is also likely to reinforce the notion of power and harbour the feeling of being untouchable. Yet it should also be pointed out that by competing against nobody means he has also beaten nobody.

And that’s the real shame, because motorsport is always about winning a race and proving that you are the best – regardless of what people say, which is why an uncontested win always feels hollow.