Who is potential FIA presidential candidate Carlos Sainz Sr?

As exclusively reported by Motorsport.com, Carlos Sainz Sr is seriously considering whether to launch a bid to challenge incumbent FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem’s campaign for a second term during this year’s elections at the governing body.

A two-time World Rally champion, Sainz might be viewed by contemporary Formula 1 fans as the ex-rally driver father of Williams’ Carlos Sainz. Yet, the senior Sainz remains active on the rally-raid scene through his efforts at the Dakar Rally – in 2025, he races with Ford following a three-year association with Audi that yielded victory in the 2024 event.

After giving up his law degree to focus on motorsport full time, Sainz started rallying in the 1980s and became a force on the national Spanish rally scene with wins for SEAT, although he also dabbled briefly in single-seaters in that time with funding from tobacco brand Marlboro. There, Sainz broke into the quarter-finals of the 1983 Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch, which paved the way to a seat in 1984’s Formula Ford 2000 championship in the UK.

Continuing in national rallying back in Spain, Sainz ended his association with SEAT to take a Ford Sierra RS Cosworth to national championship wins in 1987 and 1988, supported by the American brand’s Spanish arm, which also allowed him to dovetail those exploits with his first appearance in the World Rally Championship in 1987.

With the Sierra, Sainz clinched seventh in the 1987 Tour de Corse and eighth in the RAC Rally in Wales with then-co-driver Antonio Boto. Luis Moya then took the passenger seat for 1988 to begin a long association with Sainz, who signed with Ford’s works team for four events. His fifth-place finishes at the Corsica and Sanremo events, plus his dominance in the Spanish Rally Championship, caught the attention of Toyota Team Europe chief Ove Andersson, himself a former rally driver, who signed Sainz to drive his team’s Celica GT-Four in 1989.

After an inauspicious start to that year, with four retirements in his opening four outings for Toyota, Sainz claimed podium finishes in Finland and at Sanremo, and was on course to clinch his first WRC victory in Wales before mechanical issues swung the rally in Pentti Airikkala’s favour. Sainz had to wait until 1990 to grab his first championship win – which preceded his charge to the title.

Carlos Sainz, Luis Moya, Toyota Celica GT4

Photo by: Motorsport Images

Although Toyota continued to lock horns with Lancia at the top of the pile, the Italian brand’s drivers did not participate in every race; Sainz, however, did. Even so, once he’d got his first WRC win at Greece’s Acropolis Rally, there was little any of the Lancia drivers could do to stop him; Didier Auriol and Juha Kankkunen were 45 and 55 points respectively short of Sainz’s total, even after the Spaniard dropped scores in Kenya and Italy.

Kankkunen won the 1991 title with Sainz runner-up, but the latter claimed a second title with Toyota in 1992 by 10 points over the Finn.

Carlos Sainz, Luis Moya, Toyota Celica Turbo 4WD

Photo by: Motorsport Images

The two swapped cars for 1993, Sainz getting to drive the much-feted Lancia Delta HF Integrale – albeit for the privateer Jolly Club outfit as Lancia pulled its works support at the end of ‘92, due to a presumed sponsor clash as Toyota picked up Castrol money, which clashed with Sainz’s existing arrangement with Repsol.

Sainz managed just one podium that year, and then left to join Subaru for 1994 and 1995. With the Prodrive-run Japanese squad, he was runner-up to Auriol in ‘94 and fought against team-mate Colin McRae in ‘95 in a championship battle that became occasionally bad-blooded thanks to Sainz getting more favourable team orders at that year’s Rally Catalunya. Nonetheless, McRae clinched the 1995 title.

Carlos Sainz, Luis Moya, Subaru Impreza

Photo by: Motorsport Images

Intending to rejoin Toyota before the team was banned for 1996 following its involvement in a cheating scandal around its turbocharger restrictor plate, Sainz spent two years at Ford to drive its Escort (scoring three wins and finishing third overall in both championships).

He then made the return to Toyota to drive its new Corolla; Sainz finished runner-up to 1998 champion Tommi Makinen that year, then a comparatively distant fifth in the following season.

Carlos Sainz, Luis Moya, Ford Escort RS Cosworth

Photo by: Motorsport Images

When Toyota withdrew its works team, Sainz was back with McRae at Ford; although competitive, the Spaniard’s wins began to dry up and he managed just two over the next three years – before closing out his WRC career with Citroen.

He took his final WRC win with the French manufacturer’s Xsara in the Argentina round in 2004, and closed an illustrious career in the top-tier rallying championship with a podium in the 2005 Acropolis Rally in a bit-part campaign.

Carlos Sainz and Marc Marti

Photo by: Citroen Communication

Across the 20 years since, Sainz has largely focus on rally-raid events – and counts four Dakar wins across its various iterations, the most recent being in 2024 in Audi’s RS Q e-tron with co-driver Lucas Cruz.

His own team has also taken part in the Extreme E series, where he shared driving duties with Laia Sanz before ceding the seat to Mattias Ekstrom in 2023.

#204 Team Audi Sport Audi RS Q e-tron E2: Carlos Sainz Sr, Lucas Cruz

Photo by: Audi Communications Motorsport

Of course, Sainz is a key component of supporting his own son’s racing career – Carlos Sainz Jr became a four-time race winner with Ferrari, before moving to Williams as Lewis Hamilton replaced him at Maranello for 2025.

Now, Sainz is considering whether to challenge Ben Sulayem – a man he has competed against before in their overlapping stints in the WRC. Given the controversy of the FIA president’s current term, Sainz might be afforded plenty of support by the automobile clubs seeking a change…