Richards: It's worth returning to the pre-election promises.

      Former leader of the Benetton and BAR teams, boss of Prodrive, and head of the British federation, David Richards, supported Mohamed Ben Sulayem's candidacy in the last FIA presidential elections, but he did not fulfill his promises, and now Richards, who once could have become FIA president himself, supports another candidate—Timo Määtä in the upcoming elections, which will take place on December 12.

      In an interview with RacingNews365, Richards again spoke about the reasons for his discontent: “I want to return to Ben Sulayem’s original program, which I once supported, to his campaign promises.

      I want his initial manifesto, which I believe is still relevant today, to be implemented, for the FIA to be headed by professionals, for the president to carry out his functions without acting as CEO, and for everything to be transparent and democratic.

      In my opinion, some matters that have occurred over the past couple of years need to be clarified because, during this period, we have regressed. Anyone trying to defend [Sulayem’s position] is deeply mistaken. People say, ‘Look at what we’ve achieved,’ but a closer look at the essence of what’s happening shows that things are not as they seem.

      I was worried that no candidate would stand for election, that we wouldn’t have an opportunity for debates, but Timo Määtä’s participation in the election has allowed us to discuss these issues, compare different approaches, and point out what we believe are shortcomings, as well as how to address them.

      In my work, I am more interested in these debates than in supporting individual persons. Clearly, a lot of time will pass before we have to vote, but now there is a great opportunity to hold debates to see what has actually been achieved, what hasn’t, and what we consider important.”