Vatanen challenged Jean Todt in the FIA presidential election back in 2009. The position was secured by French motorsport figure Todt, who had previously worked as Vatanen’s team boss in the World Rally Championship, as well as leading Ferrari’s Formula 1 team.
Now, Vatanen’s former rallying rival Carlos Sainz is considering a bid to challenge the FIA’s current president, Mohammed Ben Sulayem. The next FIA presidential election will take place in December.
Several World Rally Championship stars have already voiced their support for Sainz’s potential candidacy. However, the opinions of the drivers carry no weight in the actual election process – a reality Vatanen knows all too well from personal experience.
“Sainz faces a difficult path, because there is no real democracy,” Vatanen explained in an interview with Spanish newspaper AS.
“This is not just an issue within motorsport’s governing body – it’s the same in athletics, skiing and many other sports.”
“It would be great if Carlos could become president. But the problem is that the current president holds many strings. It’s very hard to unseat him.”
Vatanen is openly critical of the current election system.
“It’s not right that, for example, Kosovo has four votes and Spain has three,” Vatanen stated.
“Each country should have one vote, perhaps weighted according to population.”
“But again, this is the situation across all sports. What sense did it make to host the football World Cup in Qatar?”
Vatanen was speaking during his appearance this weekend at the Rally Festival Hoznayo in Spain. The Finnish rally legend took part in the event behind the wheel of the iconic Peugeot 205 Turbo 16, alongside co-driver Fabrizia Pons.
“After all these years, I received such a warm welcome here,” Vatanen said.
“This is a country where life, sport – everything – is lived with great passion. And they are not afraid to show it.”
