I agree that JT is not the right candidate for this position and not willing to throw in the towel as some have already. This should be turned into a campaign by Ari or someone else.
There should be the production and publication of a manifesto cleverly drawn up and extremely appealing to Mosley's base and here I see a role for F1 teams; they can energize the car manufacturers and respective governments to use their resources and contacts with these countries.

JT and Mosley maybe focusing on the moto sport chairmen of these countries, they should go higher - to the presidents who I believe would be very willing to entertain the presidents or Toyota, Mercedes, Ferrari in their splendid palaces and mansions. They can use their diplomatic channels. I mean they should pull out all the stops...

Small point, but he stepped into the role 3 years before MS joined the team.

That's pretty harsh on Vatanen.. kar...

Personally, it is not the results achieved by Todt while doing it's job I have a problem with... they speak for themselves, (with the universally accepted FIA assistance of course), it is about the methodology.. Todt is most likely to embrace the methods that made his success possible, it would be quite strange for him to swim in another direction..

What's needed is a FIA reform, not a FIA superman who pretends to have all the answers..

People who worked under Todt didn't have a bad word to say about him. I think that is telling. What I fear with Vatanen is that the big manufactures are going to not just have a fair say, but an overwhelming say, in the running of the sport.

I think at present it's too much about the FIA telling everyone how things are, and that isn't right. I fear it will be the otherway round with less robust leadership.

Todt has never failed at anything he's taken his hand to, and those he's managed rarely have a bad word to say about him. I think his hard work would benefit the FIA.

But who knows, maybe the FIA needs a period of relative weakness in order to re-focus itself.

Yes, and don't forget that Todt hates the Mercedes/McClaren team since the 'spygate' incident, so I can't imagine him being neutral. All of F1 need to 'pour oil on troubled waters', so it has to be Vatanen in my view.

Got anything to back that up with?

That may be a good transition but it is not the main premise of my early endorsement of Vatanen. The main issue for most F1 people - fans and team personnel, drivers etc alike - is the perception of evenhandedness. As ruralpete points out in the next post how much confidence will McLaren take into a hearing with FIA if Todt is there? JT presided over the most vindictive witchhunt in F1 history in having McLaren hung, drawn and quartered for an offence described by Renault F1's Pat Symonds as "guilty of not much really". All the while he had in his pocket a secret veto over the rest of the teams, recently revealed, so we should not see him as a man with an extraordinary sense of fair play. Nobody questions the enormous energy and management strengths of Todt but F1 must move to a more trustable era.

People who fought against Todt have plenty of bad words to say about him and the way he operates to achieve his goals. I think that is telling.
It's all very well if you're in his camp, quite the opposite otherwise.

I voted for Vatanen, but unfortunately it will be Todt. This is not a public vote, more like a vote where the one who has more influential friends, wins.

I vote for Todt. With Vatanen this forum might die.

Aha, yes Max was advised not to stand because of his name, while ARi was an MEP for 10 years. That makes Ari like Max, obviously

I think you should stick to height to link Ari with Max - we really don't want a continuation of tall guys running the sport, it's time for a short president.

but for the oganisation he runs he's a great asset
not for the enemies, but heck, you chose a president for you, not for them

That's it in a nutshell though, Todt will always have enemies, wherever he is. He likes to have enemies, like Max, so if there aren't any to start with he'll make some.

I don't think so there'll always be people whining about the FIA and it's president, comes with the job.
But you're right with Todt the potential for amusing threads on stupid FIA, stupid rules and perceived bias is way better.

Anyway I wonder if Vatanen will follow through with his candidacy when it becomes clear that he doesn't stand a chance against Todt and his cabinet?
I hope he does and that even if he loses to Todt that somehow he'll remain involved with FIA in future.

Imagine, I Todt does get in, the FIA will have been run by a pair of Jeans

Sorry....just popped into my head....

Totally agree to both statements.

It seems inevitable that there is no perfect president, because things change over time. Its the same in all politics. Sometimes you need a very strong direction with a touch of dictatorialism, and other times you need to bring people together and do some bridge building, even if the direction is a bit compromised. 4 or 8 years of a more gentle leadership feels like just what is needed at the moment (though maybe it would be better if it was 2 or 4 years, or the FIA split to leave FISA for motorsport and FIA for motoring). Once people start clamouring for a dictator to 'get things done' then I am sure one will emerge, but now is the wrong time for that.

Knowing when to leave is also a great art - get it right, you go down in history as a good thing, get it wrong and it takes decades before the sour taste of the final swigs fades and people can see the good side. Unfortunately Max left it too late.

With all the stuff about Todt's relationships and bias etc, lets get some balance and mention that Ari hasn't worked a real day in his life and has been fed for all of it by Manufacturers.

I will have a much harder time defending Todt than Mosley... No rational reasons, I guess. Mosley is just a much more fascinating person and somehow I think his people skills are above Todt's. It will be interesting to see wether Vatanen can muster the support necessary.

Even if we don't take the Ferrari past of Todt as a factor he is still the worst man for the position. That guy is one of those sneaky, devious people. He would do anything to get his way and i mean anything.

When i started watching F1, I, like almost everyone when they are kids and first go in to that world, only knew of the Ferrari name. so even though i was watching with out supporting anyone i was always wishing those red cars would do well even though they weren't exactly winning much in those days to give joy to anyone. And then the Ferrari Todt days came. God i started hating those red cars. They started using every dirty trick in the book so they can be certain to get the result they wanted. The FIA decisions the tricks even the way the team worked. They change there way to company cold methods a lot worse than the Mclaren that has a name of being very corporate and things like that. I started liking Mclaren just because it was getting in there way.
Now that his gone i started liking Ferrari again. Hey as soon as he left even the teams manage to make FOTA and get along with each other. Even the two biggest adversaries Mclaren and Ferrari are now talking and working together. That man is a source of conflict and distraction. I bet even Mosley will look good if he manages to get the presidency. He is the absolute worse kind of person for the position.

That little French guy is dangerous. Mark my words. And believe me, the last thing am worried about is Ferrari favoritism because of his past. He is capable for a lot worse than that. He could easily screw Ferrari if they get in the way of his plans also.

I dislike Toad. But Ross Brawn has managed to be pretty impartial with regards Ferrari, now he's at BRAWN GP! With MERCEDES engines rather than FERARRI ONES!! Yes... even Ferrari employees can move on.

Give the guy a bit of credit...but not too much. This is Toad after all.

Ari is a strong choice.

Regards club members getting all expenses paid trips to Paris etc. Well no wonder they support Mosley and I can understand the teams being annoyed that their investment in F1 was being siphoned off to pay for the jaunty old boys club, the FIA. But I still happen to agree that they do a good job for road safety and protecting F1 from the commercial drones at the car manufacturers and will never go back on my opinion regarding Mosley, even if he is unpopular, tainted, and now pretty much... dead in the water.

Anything to back up the accusation of ari being a worm and a stooge? No surprise to see you endorse the same man mosley does and for the same reasons.

Todt as FIA-President will be the same like 16 years of Mosley...

Vatanen !!!

Yes I think that Todt will have to grow into the role of FIA president but I'm sure that FIA old hands such as Nick Craw and Michel Boeri will help him, also there's Richard Woods and Alan Donnelly.

Dunno about Todt's people skills but to me he always came accross a little introvert and reserved, I guess we'll see.
I expect Todt to do an exclusive interview with a newspaper or TV-network in the weeks to come, where he clearly explains his plans and goals with FIA in the next 4 years.

As for Vatanen, I'm also curious what he can come up with.
If it's mainly the large commercial motoring clubs backing him (ADAC, AAA) than he might as well not run.

Vatanen has the people skills, Toad has the experience and practical skills.

A bit like in the rally days

1/ Not a religious argument at all, nor am I anti Christian - simply a reference to his abilities for the job in question because he is a stout follower and based on my own dealings with people, a lot of them through business.

I have found stout followers of Christianity to be suprisingly naive about many facets of life and the non drinkers to be sustantially naive and very one eyed. I have friends and family who are Mormans, Jo Ho's and others, one of them is strange in the strongest meaning both his religion and him since he fell in with them. One of those live in a commune together and give up all your Worldly possession types.

So this personal experience leads me to post that Ari, one of my all time driving hero's, is not a suitable candidate for the dirty little world of politics where one needs to know how to scratch others backs to get your own scratch.

2/ I didn't vote for Max but I voted for Todt so thanks for the comment infering that some of us can't think for ourselves because we don't agree with you.

Do me a favour, turn the other cheek

One could argue that Ari Vatanen, a politician, has carved much of his political career out of knowing which backs to scratch. I don't know how effective a president he'd make but he actually does come straight from the dirty little world of politics, surely he can't be entirely incapable of functioning in such an environment?

Again, maybe he'd be the worst leader ever, I don't know, but I find it interesting and somewhat bizarre that he's automatically assumed to be weak, naive and generally gullible just because he's a Christian and doesn't, as far as we know, have a history of being a bully.

Neither.

Who believe Todt ll be neutral Vatanen is better option.

How long has Ari been a Poli?? The past 10years and from what background? What education? What life education?

Did I say "weak, naive and generally gullible"? No I didn't, maybe your Freudian slip?

I said I find them suprisingly naive about many facets of life.

To me there is regular Christian and 'other' which unfortunately IMO and I'm sure the Vatican's, still comes under the heading of Christianity and I don't think a member of one of the 'other' groups can function suitably in this position purely from a political point of view.

True enough.


No matter who's running the FIA, F1 will still be a boring no-passing tedium fest of I'd rather watch paint dry proportions. Not that I'd have expected a FOTA breakaway to be any better given their starry-eyed love of the 2009 technical regulations.


I'll miss Max and his comedy routines though.

This is key.
Posters that think Vatanen has a chance do not understand how the voting system works.
Max changed the voting procedure 4 years ago to make sure that he gets to pick his successor.
All the incumbents are currently on Max's slate. Most are very loyal to him as we saw during spankgate.
In his letter to this cabinet, Max positioned Todt for the job, indicating that JT will head up the incumbents.
For Vatanen to win, he would need to present an entire new (and different) slate of candidates, the majority of these would need to defeat the incumbents.
That will never happen.

Max wins again...

Besides some of Todt's questionable actions at Ferrari, Mosley's endorsment of him is, from my point of view, the kiss of death. Vantanen or Craw.

Nick Craw is running on the Todt-ticket as president of the FIA Senate.

I don't think Mr. Craw is "running" - I think he's been nominated to that position by Jean Todt. A position that I think is a step down from his current role. I don't think that being nominated to fill a seat precludes you from running for the Presidency should you decide to or be persuaded to.

I was speaking in general terms, not responding to your post specifically - although I did, probably confusingly, nick some convenient phrases straight off your post. I just thought it was sort of funny and ironic that politics would be the part of the job that would supposedly do a politician's head in, and the suspected naivety, weakness, gullibility etc. of Vatanen has been a recurring theme in this and other threads. I can't really see what that impression is based on.

The members of the WMSC support Mosley.

Mosley supports Todt.

Todt will win and it will be a landslide, I guess. Not sure Vatanen would do better, though.

You betcha, Nick Craw accepted the nomination otherwise he wouldn't be on Todt's list as one can only be on one candidate's list.
Don't know if he could also run for president himself but then it wouldn't make any sense to accept a position in Todt's cabinet.

Nick Craw is in with Jean Todt and will not be running for FIA president.

I think Todt will win this race and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. He's a very capable man for the job. Even more so than Vatanen. Personally however I'd rather see Vatanen winning the presidency. He would be a breath of fresh air among the old faces which is something that is sorely needed.

People here think that because Todt worked for Ferrari, he will continue to do so when he's the FIA President. I don't think he's that sort of person. IMO he is very intelligent, very clear, very dedicated and he is very straight. Just because he pushed Ferrari into actions which people here think were not ethical, does not mean that Todt was unethical. He pushed IMO Ferrari from a long period of poor performance, into being a multi-national innovative team of ruthless excellence. And he gained advantage where ever it was available - which was his job.

Here's what Michelin's Pierre Dupascuier said about Todt when he had dinner with Bira:


IMO Todt would make a good FIA president - although his lack of political experience might cause him trouble. But then it would only cause him a shorter team, and he would be limited to either eight or four years anyway.

He will be respected by everyone, and he has great knowledge. His strategic vision would be profound IMO. That he understands Ferrari would be a benefit to his leadership, surely. I don't think Luca likes him at all, but so what? The key concerning Formula One, is that he knows the nature of the teams and the competition better than anyone, and his management acumen is superb. He's shown himself to be an extraordinary delegator, a leader of some very talented men. If F1 ones the FIA to provide good leadership, I can't think of anyone with the management skills and the knowledge of Todt. Ari would find it very tough IMO.

Over 85% against Todt...than includes me.

think about this, people who almost never agree on ANYTHING concerning F1, agree that Mosely has to go and that a new guy with no connections to the endless crap that has gone on in the past, should take his place. Just look at the disagreements between people with the "out mosely" avitars.

In a recent pole on this same website, Ferrari was by far the prefered team, that means that a high percentage of Ferrari fans, whose team might benefit from a Todt presidency even agree. F1 has been so damaged recently by the Mosely policies, that F1 and the FIA needs a compeletly different direction.

Todt on announcing his intention to run, bascially said he wanted to continue the current direction of the FIA and build on what Max has started.

Vatanen has made it clear that he wants a new FIA. Seeing that the current direction of the FIA has almost killed F1, severly injured WRC and basically killed sportscars and internation touring cars, I think it is clear a new direction is needed.

Vatanen for President!!!

It's strange because as a ferrari fan i must say that ALOT of what ferrari means today is due to todt, he did whatever he had to do to win, as a CEO he would be great, but i dont know about being the fia president...

After that era (thou the most victorious one) i was glad it was over... even thou ferrari makes many mistakes today that they didnt do during the todts time... there is something that i value more, i wished that ferrari would have a fair game between their own drivers, there were alot of things that todt did that made my skin crawl...

In the end the main question we must ask ourselves is, do we really want to replace a tyrant with another? because that is what jean todt is... with him there things will either go his way or no way at all, and if we think that mosley's ego and need for power is disgusting and has destroyed FIA and racing, well todt is at least twice that.

A good man, maybe the perfect CEO or leader for a 'team" but i would like to see FIA become somewhat of a democracy, and jean todt can't be democratic.

I can't seem to find it but Vatanen performed one of the great recovery manouveres in a car during the Group B era, I have it on VHS and it was during the time he was driving an Opel. If anyone does find it, please share, his co-driver wet himself.

I think Todt would be great in the job and would do his best for whoever he was representing but I have to agree, neither Todt or Dennis are approppriate simply because the appearance of impropriety can be as damaging and distruptive as actual impropriety.

If I was Todt, I'm not sure I would want Mosleys endorsement.

Fair enough if you didn't like some of Ferraris policies during that time but when did Todt ever act like a tyrant? For starters he wasn't even top dog, Luca is and was. Todt put together a harmonious team and trusted everyone to do their jobs. The team liked, respected and worked hard for him. He was also very loyal to the team, his management and 'driver' in particular and that was reciprocated.

I don't think there is any evidence that Todt can't be "democratic", just the opposite, I would say he showed every trait required to do the job of FIA president proud.

I still don't think he is the right man for the job, but purely because of appearances, in terms of ability I can't think of anyone better.

I'm not bothered by the arguements of impartiality concerning Todt and I think in his day he was an exceptional motorsport boss.

What I am bothered by is the fact he clearly worships Mosley.

If Todt gets the job nothing much will change. He'll be fighting the same nonsensical battles and stiring the same political pots.

The last thing the FIA needs is a man to continue Mosleys unfortunate legacy. What they need is a dynamic new leader who is prepared to make big changes to the way the FIA is set up, operated and a complete overhaul of its objectives.

I'm just not convinced that Todt offers a better future.

Don't think it's "worshipping" Rinehart, I think he has a lot of respect of what Max has done in/with/for FIA in the last 16 years.
That is a sentiment that very much exists with the FIA members too (see vote of confidence last year and the alleged letters from many FIA members asking Max to stay) and the best way of getting yourself elected would be to respect Max' work and start building from there.

Announcing big changes and a complete overhaul of the FIA sure as hell won't get you elected.

No problem Mate, just my point of view and as I mentioned from purely a political point. I'm sure from what I've seen over the years thats he's one of the good Guys who should be running the FIA - but I live in the real World and it's an eat or get eaten place. Todt's the man for it.

Vatanen enjoying the vast majority of support here. Just thought it was worth pointing out.

None of them would be a fundamentally "bad" choice.

Let me start by saying that those of you who are quick to pigeonhole Todt as Ferrari's man or as a Mosley pawn have a short memory.

Todt is an outstanding manager who basically built the Peugeot Talbot Sport from the ground up in the early 1980s, leading to the successful 205 Turbo 16 Group B car (with Vatanen as driver, incidentally). When Peugeot pulled out of rallying, he shifted the focus of the team to the Paris to Dakar raid and the Pikes Peak hillclimb, also with success. And finally he was still there when the brand scored its first two Le Mans victories. When Peugeot got cold feet and decided against launching a Formula 1 effort, Todt immediately left and was quickly hired by Ferrari. That was a bit of a surprise at the time because the Frenchman was widely believed to be Peugeot's man and nothing more.

It would be an understatement to say that his tenure at the Scuderia was crowned by success, but his most significant achievement there has been to turn the team from a bloody mess where politics and back-stabbing were part of the management method into a winning machine where everyone was working towards a clear common goal. While some of his decisions as team principal have been debatable, it is undeniable that he always worked in the best interest of his team, even if it meant turning his back on some Ferrari traditions. While autocratic on the outside, Todt managed to hire the best people and have them work in unison over a period of several years, not a simple task given the constant media pressure on Ferrari.

I believe that as FIA President he would use these same qualities that allowed him to succeed elsewhere, and he certainly would avoid some of the pitfalls Mosley was so prone to fall into. And while Mosley might support him right now, I have no doubt that Todt would be his own man once in place and certainly not Max's poodle.

But while I firmly believe that Todt would be a competent and effective FIA President, I also think that given the current climate in Formula 1, it might be wise to have someone else do the transition from the Mosley years. As shown by the thread, Todt carries some heavy perceived baggage from his Ferrari days, and many are quick to dismiss him as partial, if not corrupt. The FIA is in dire need of some regained credibility, and having a potentially controversial figure at the helm wouldn't help.

That's why I am very interested in Ari Vatanen's candidacy. While his platform remains unclear at this stage, he offers a more consensual figure who could help the FIA cleanup its tarnished image. Out of curiosity, I have followed Vatanen's political career over the last decade, and he seems like a competent public figure who could give us a refreshing change. He is probably less of an obvious choice than the workaholic Todt, but he might be the right man at the right time.

Finally, I find it very interesting to see these two men, who are close personal friends, compete for the same position. One probably would be better than the other at it, but the latter would probably be a better choice right now, at least for the duration of one mandate.