Carlos Sainz Snr is reportedly eyeing up the FIA president role as Mohammed Ben Sulayem faces fresh opposition as he looks to run for a second term as the head of the motorsport governing body. Ben Sulayem was elected as FIA president in late 2021, inheriting the role from the long-serving Jean Todt at a turbulent time for the organisation. The 63-year-old was quickly tasked with rebuilding trust in the governing body after the controversy of the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, and he has since faced a number of stumbling blocks, which have eroded his favour among the F1 paddock.

With the next rounds of FIA elections approaching at the end of 2025, Ben Sulayem may face some fresh opposition. According to a report from Autosport, rallying legend Sainz Snr, who is the father of Williams driver Carlos Sainz Jnr, is considering running against the Emirati official for the post.

The past 18 months of Ben Sulayem's tenure have been dotted with controversies and unpopular decisions. Numerous key figures have departed the organisation, including F1 race director Niels Wittich, and his leadership has even been called out by Motorsport UK chairman David Richards.

“The governance and constitutional organisation of the FIA is becoming ever more opaque and concentrating power in the hands of the president alone,” he said in a statement following the resignation of deputy president for sport, Peter Reid. “We cannot allow a shift of the moral compass of our leadership to simply dismiss any request for transparency and open discourse.”

Ben Sulayem also lost the support of several drivers during the off-season when he doubled down on his anti-swearing campaign, introducing harsh fines that scaled to over £100,000 in value, and putting championship point deductions and one-month race bans on the line.

The news of Sainz Snr's potential leadership bid follows an unpopular fine for his son at the Japanese Grand Prix. The Spaniard was late to the national anthem as he was using the toilet, and was fined heavily, despite having medical proof that he was carrying an illness throughout the weekend.

"I think I am the biggest supporter of punctuality and being a gentleman and being punctual to things, especially the national anthem with all the authorities there," Sainz Jnr said after his fine. "I was the first one to put my hand up and say, 'I am late, I am sorry for that', but at the same time, I was five seconds late, and had to pay €10,000, and for me, it is out of the question that we're having to pay these fines.

"I don't know if I am going to get another fine for saying this, but shit happens, it is the way it goes sometimes. It was expensive, and you guys know what 10k is, and for [being] five seconds late, it is disappointing. I hope someone tells me where this 10k goes and they say, 'Okay, at least it went to a nice cause' and I will look forward to seeing where it goes."