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The current Formula 1 grid faces the bizarre scenario where the father of one of the drivers could be running to be the new FIA president later this year.
It emerged after the Miami Grand Prix that Carlos Sainz Sr is currently weighing up whether to challenge Mohammed Ben Sulayem for the FIA presidency.
On media day at Imola many of the leading drivers were asked what they thought of Sainz's potential presidential campaign - including his son, who was asked so many questions about it that Williams intervened to move his media session onto different matters.
Grand Prix Drivers' Association director George Russell - one of two directors on the grid, along with Carlos Jr - was full of praise for the job he thought two-time World Rally champion Sainz would do.
"Carlos Sr is a really, extremely respected individual within the whole motorsport industry. Not just F1, not just rallying. He has so much experience in this world," Russell said.
“He of course, would be a fantastic candidate, if that's what he wished to do. I was quite surprised when I saw it initially, but when you think about it properly, I think it makes a lot of sense."
Russell shut down any suggestion of worry about there being a conflict of interest with the FIA given Carlos Jr's prominence.
"No, not at all," Russell said when asked if he had any such concerns.
"You're so far removed, ultimately from a technical standpoint, it's down to the technical people within the FIA to be the rulemakers.
"And the president in years gone by has probably been far less involved than what we've seen recently, and far less visible.
"We always knew who the FIA president was, especially when it was Jean Todt, but you're working in the background, you're not working in the forefront.
"I don't see there ever being a conflict. If anything, I think it could only benefit the sport, having Carlos [Jr] with the inside knowledge of F1 from a drivers' perspective, and then Carlos Sr's knowledge from motorsport generally.
"It could be a brilliant recipe."
As for current president Ben Sulayem, Russell's latest ire with the FIA centred on its Appendix B rollback on swearing. He said "the changes should have never happened in the first place".
He continued: "We're talking about a situation where things have been reverted because it was a little bit ludicrous in the first place.
"It feels a bit wrong to be thanking the changes when we shouldn't have been in that place to begin with.
"It's a bit of a strange predicament, and we've still had no correspondence with anyone from the senior level of the FIA. So...yeah. It's all a bit suspect."
Verstappen's support and Sainz's response
Russell and Max Verstappen might have had their on-and-off-track disagreements in the past, but they were aligned on Sainz Sr being a strong candidate.
"I read about that a little bit. I do think he's very well-respected in the world here and in the rally world," Verstappen, who started his F1 career alongside Sainz Jr at Toro Rosso, said.
"Of course people always say, 'Ah, yeah, but it's conflicting with his son' but I think he's professional enough to keep that separate from each other.
"I think he would be a great addition, to run for president."
When asked if Sainz Sr would be a better president than Ben Sulayem, Verstappen replied: "You can fill that in yourself. It'd be stupid for me to comment on that here."
Sainz was asked the same question in his session, replying: "I'm his son, so I'm biased!
"But I just, honestly speaking from the most objective position possible, there doesn't come to my head anyone that has lived through all the karting days with his son and knows the roots of motorsport in karting, as he did four or five years of karting with me, he did four or five years of single-seaters with me, knowing how tough, expensive, difficult that ladder is.
"He's done 10 years in Formula 1 with me. He's done 40 years of rallying. He does a lot of mobility work in Spain with the Ponle Freno [road safety] campaign.
"So a guy that covers so many experiences in so many different areas of motorsport, coming to the end of his career, obviously in racing, and trying to find a way to give back to motorsports, what motorsports has given to him. I think from the most objective position that I can find, obviously being his son, he is obviously a very optimal candidate.
"Whether he will decide to do it or not it's obviously completely up to him. But interestingly enough, it didn’t actually came from him, and it came from a lot of people in the paddock putting it in his ear.
"And he started thinking, 'Maybe, yeah...'."
Sainz Jr said his father was "trying to understand how the elections work; how much convincing, how many people he needs to obviously go and talk to".
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He said his father "obviously wants my opinion, but not more than that".
And he said Sainz Sr could be the person to "remove politics" from F1 and doesn't see it influencing his own career.
"I've been trying to think scenarios where it could, but I actually don't see any way how that could be seen," he explained.
"If anything, obviously, he will be extremely careful. I will be extremely careful, because the last thing that I want is mine or his image or career to be damaged by that situation. So if anything, we would do the opposite effect, and I don't see any conflict of interest.
"The moment you personally know my dad, or you personally know me, we are honest people and would never, ever compromise that situation in motorsport."
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Sainz's Williams team boss James Vowles believes Sainz would be a strong candidate.
"He's got a really logical view on how the sport is constructed, and how he's got to where he is at the moment, and what actually can help in and around it," Vowles said.
"What I've noticed with Carlos Sr here, and I'm not sure if that's different to where it was before, is he recognises his son is his own man now, and actually doesn't interfere on anything.
"What he really enjoys doing is just watching the cars go around the track and know that that's been him that's put that together to allow it to happen.
"He obviously has to move away from that far more if he decides to go in the FIA direction, but I'm confident we can firewall sufficiently that I don't think it'd be a problem."
Anthony Hamilton set to officially join the FIA
Lewis Hamilton's father Anthony has been working with Ben Sulayem and the FIA in recent months, and is going to be given an official role, The Times has reported.
Hamilton has been working as an advisor to the FIA for the past year and a half and has been an important part of the governing body's Young Driver Development Pathway.
This will inevitably be seen as an endorsement of Ben Sulayem's presidency and would be a much-needed boost amid much public criticism.
According to The Times, Hamilton's FIA role will be announced during a joint press conference in Macau next month.
