Ben Sulayem set to be elected unopposed after Sainz drops out of FIA presidency race

Mohammed Ben Sulayem’s chances of being re-elected unopposed as president of motor racing’s world governing body increased on Wednesday when Spaniard Carlos Sainz Sr said he would not be standing for the FIA top job.

The 63-year-old double world rally champion, four-times Dakar winner and father of the Williams Formula One driver of the same name, said in May he was considering running against the Emirati in the December election.

The decision not to go ahead will allow him to compete again in the Dakar Rally in Saudi Arabia with Ford next January, something he said he did not want to miss.

There is currently no other declared candidate beyond Ben Sulayem.

“Hi everyone. This message is to publicly confirm that I have finally decided not to run for the presidency of the FIA in this year’s election,” Sainz said on X.

“I have worked hard these past months to understand in depth the situation at the FIA and the demands and complexities that come with such an important project,” he added.

“After a thoughtful reflection, I have come to the conclusion that the present circumstances are not ideal to set the grounds for my candidacy.”

Sainz’s son is a director of the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association and the older Spaniard has dismissed suggestions there would be a conflict of interest if he was elected FIA president.

Sainz said his desire to serve and lead remained strong and he still believed the organisation needed to make some important changes, which he hoped would happen in years to come.

Ben Sulayem, who confirmed in May that he would be standing for a second term, is a controversial figure who has had battles with teams and drivers in Formula One and rallying.

He holds a strong hand in an election where regional loyalties come into play and recent statute changes have made it harder, according to critics, for potential rivals to stand against him.

Presidential candidates are also required to stand with a slate of potential office-holders put forward for the various roles.

Rivalries and collisions hang over Austrian GP: Present rivalries and past collisions hang over Red Bull’s home Austrian Grand Prix as Formula One braces for the next round of Max Verstappen v George Russell and more title-chasing drama at McLaren.

Russell and reigning champion Verstappen finished first and second in Canada two weeks ago, with Red Bull protesting — in vain — the Mercedes win and accusing the Briton of unsportsmanlike behaviour.

It is safe to say the pair are not friends and they are building up quite a track record, colliding in Spain this month in an incident that left Verstappen blamed and on the brink of a mandatory race ban.

Two of those penalty points expire after Austria but he still has to stay out of trouble through a weekend in the Styrian hills where his orange-shirted fans will be out in numbers.

“It’s always a great weekend there. We’ve had a lot of great results and, hopefully, we can have another strong weekend there,” said Verstappen, the Austrian GP winner in 2018, 2019, 2021 and 2023.

Team boss Christian Horner was not about to make any sweeping predictions.

“Probably our weakness at the moment is in the medium-speed type of corner,” he said. “Austria, that middle sector, there’s a bit of medium speed there. So we’ll see. I would expect, if it’s hot, McLaren to again be stronger.

“There’s still a significant points gap between us and them (McLaren). But we don’t give up on anything. We’re not even at the halfway point yet.”

Verstappen and Norris caused a commotion in Spielberg last year when they collided while scrapping for the lead, with Norris chasing. That gifted victory to Russell.

Norris will return with the memory of that coming together now overtaken by the one between him and Piastri in Canada that left him 22 points adrift of the Australian after 10 of 24 races.

The Briton, who retired in Montreal while Piastri finished fourth, could only blame himself for that error of judgement and knows without too much soul-searching that there can be no repeat.

Reuters