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Possible challenge to Todt FIA presidential re-election


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#1 ExFlagMan

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Posted 24 July 2013 - 17:29

Looks like Jean Todt might have opposition in FIA presidential election.

http://www.autosport...t.php/id/108930

At least it might give the media a chance to ask the elusive Mr Todt questions.

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#2 Sakae

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Posted 24 July 2013 - 17:51

JT deserves at least one more term if for nothing else, then as reward for keeping F1 out of scandalous headlines.

#3 BoschKurve

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Posted 24 July 2013 - 18:07

One can only guess at the amount of politicking Mr. Mosely will be doing on behalf of David Ward.

The sad thing is, because of Ward being one of Mosley's buddies, I do not know if the re-election of Todt will be guaranteed. A shame as I suspect a Ward election would bring back the bad old days of MrM for F1. I also would foresee him being the preferred choice of MrE for however long he remains at the helm of FOM. The interesting thing will be to see if MrE pulls the same double-dealing bullshit he pulled back in 1991 when he sandbagged Balestre in favor of Mosley.

#4 handel

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Posted 24 July 2013 - 18:13

For the fans who ramped up interest in the last few years, why in particular is Mosely (from an FIA perspective only, not a nazi sex games one) hated / loved? Same with Todt - don't really know what he's achieved at the FIA or why he should stay?

#5 midgrid

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Posted 24 July 2013 - 18:22

"This is not what I intended nor what I wanted, but I am certainly thinking about [standing] because it is important to have a debate," he told The Times.

"You can only have a debate if there is a choice of candidates, and there is no debate if there is no choice."


So it sounds like he would stand just for the sake of the election not being a whitewash. Perhaps Todt himself is encouraging some token opposition?

#6 fabr68

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Posted 24 July 2013 - 18:25

Given all the bias and assistance Ferrari currently gets from the FIA, maybe it us time to change back to the Mosley era... *

#7 BoschKurve

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Posted 24 July 2013 - 19:04

For the fans who ramped up interest in the last few years, why in particular is Mosely (from an FIA perspective only, not a nazi sex games one) hated / loved? Same with Todt - don't really know what he's achieved at the FIA or why he should stay?


Max being complicit in the deal that gave away the sport's commercial rights to MrE for a pittance is one of the biggest issues.

#8 ArnageWRC

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Posted 24 July 2013 - 19:05

While he hasn't been perfect, Todt deserves another term - brought back a Sportscar World Championship, and realises F1 is not the be all and end all of Motorsport.

#9 PNSD

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Posted 24 July 2013 - 19:53

While he hasn't been perfect, Todt deserves another term - brought back a Sportscar World Championship, and realises F1 is not the be all and end all of Motorsport.


Bingo.

#10 JHSingo

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Posted 24 July 2013 - 19:58

While he hasn't been perfect, Todt deserves another term - brought back a Sportscar World Championship, and realises F1 is not the be all and end all of Motorsport.


Completely agree. His crusade to help the WRC back to full health has been admirable too, if a bit of a forlorn task at times.

I'd be interested to hear what this potential new guy is going to offer to categories outside of F1 first, so we don't have another Mosley like figure who does very little.

#11 redreni

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Posted 24 July 2013 - 20:02

JT deserves at least one more term if for nothing else, then as reward for keeping F1 out of scandalous headlines.


You want to reward him for doing nothing? Fair enough, he is the "do nothing" President.

Personally I'd prefer an FIA President that doesn't allow major FIA World Championships like WRC to be run without working timing, scoring and tracking in place. For me, it doesn't look good when WRC teams only find out one of their drivers has crashed out of the event when the driver calls them using a spectator's phone. And it was entirely due to Todt's utter lethargy in leaving it to the last minute to secure an alternative contract after the break with the previous contractor. It was lucky, in a way, that WRC was saved the full embarassment of this by the fact that they also failed to get television deals done in time for the start of the season. That FIA championship is a shadow of what it was when Mosely ran the FIA.

I'd prefer an FIA President that is able to negotiate a tripartite agreement for F1 between the FIA, the commercial rights holder and the constructors, rather than letting the old deal lapse and letting everything fester in a state of limbo, waiting for a major dispute to arise and end up in the law courts provoking a crisis in the sport.

I'd rather have an FIA President that would look at the rules for WTCC, realise the cars look and sound more or less the same as they did 10 years ago and that there is little to no manufacturer interest in the championship, and do something about it rather than wait for the category to go the same way as FIA GT. Basically, I would rather have an FIA President that keeps his eye on the ball and reacts to problems before they become crises - somebody who would justify his salary by actually doing some meaningful work occasionally!

If I could I'd bring back Mosley.

#12 Afterburner

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Posted 24 July 2013 - 20:02

JT deserves at least one more term if for nothing else, then as reward for keeping F1 out of scandalous headlines.

Yeah, sure, tyres designed, at the behest of the FIA, to degrade to the point of failing in spectacular fashion is a great way of keeping F1 out of scandalous headlines. :rolleyes:

If getting rid of Todt means stemming the tide of the slow-the-cars-down fake-overtaking funky-wings safety-nazi green-racing movement, then I'm all for it. If not, then keep him around until someone better comes along. The only thing I can really give his administration credit for is the WEC, which in my opinion has made sportscar racing more organised than it's ever been before and great fun to watch. Too bad even that seems to be heading into the toilet with freakishly-narrow prototypes next year, but at least they don't have overtaking zones and tyres designed to fail yet.

#13 JHSingo

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Posted 24 July 2013 - 20:29

I'd rather have an FIA President that would look at the rules for WTCC, realise the cars look and sound more or less the same as they did 10 years ago and that there is little to no manufacturer interest in the championship, and do something about it rather than wait for the category to go the same way as FIA GT. Basically, I would rather have an FIA President that keeps his eye on the ball and reacts to problems before they become crises - somebody who would justify his salary by actually doing some meaningful work occasionally!

If I could I'd bring back Mosley.


Tell me. What did Mosley ever do for WRC, WTCC or the GTs?

Not a lot.

#14 Sakae

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Posted 24 July 2013 - 21:26

Yeah, sure, tyres designed, at the behest of the FIA, to degrade to the point of failing in spectacular fashion is a great way of keeping F1 out of scandalous headlines. :rolleyes:

If getting rid of Todt means stemming the tide of the slow-the-cars-down fake-overtaking funky-wings safety-nazi green-racing movement, then I'm all for it. If not, then keep him around until someone better comes along. The only thing I can really give his administration credit for is the WEC, which in my opinion has made sportscar racing more organised than it's ever been before and great fun to watch. Too bad even that seems to be heading into the toilet with freakishly-narrow prototypes next year, but at least they don't have overtaking zones and tyres designed to fail yet.

Todt is responsible for tire specs? That's news to me.

#15 PerfectMan

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Posted 24 July 2013 - 21:31

Given all the bias and assistance Ferrari currently gets from the FIA, maybe it us time to change back to the Mosley era... *


FIA were a lot more biased towards Ferrari under Mosley.

#16 Fastcake

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Posted 24 July 2013 - 21:33

Todt is responsible for tire specs? That's news to me.


It was a joint wish by him and the teams, as you should know by now.

#17 BoschKurve

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Posted 24 July 2013 - 21:39

It was a joint wish by him and the teams, as you should know by now.


More like MrE asked for them, but no one really wants to acknowledge that.

#18 Afterburner

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Posted 25 July 2013 - 02:00

Todt is responsible for tire specs? That's news to me.

Directly? Not exactly, but indirectly, yes--he could have done a whole lot more to make it clear he didn't want F1 to go in that direction.

FIA were a lot more biased towards Ferrari under Mosley.

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#19 Sakae

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Posted 25 July 2013 - 06:28

It was a joint wish by him and the teams, as you should know by now.

I would like to challenge that (Todt's part). Tire spec has fingerprints on by Ecclestone, Whitmarsh and alike, but Todt's? That's not his style to be confrontational like MM was, and once TWG decides what they want to do, I doubt he would fight it. If you know any better, feel free to quote him. He is a facilitator, and he has to sign some papers, but that's formality. The crowd he is working are all old MM's hexes. It takes a decade or so to turn this mammoth around, unless he would fire the most on the spot (which he cannot do, of course).

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#20 bushgold

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Posted 25 July 2013 - 07:38

There wasn't one GP weekend where Moseley wasn't the center of attention in some way. He was always "tinkering". He presided over the worst era in Formula One history.

#21 JHSingo

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Posted 25 July 2013 - 11:29

Directly? Not exactly, but indirectly, yes--he could have done a whole lot more to make it clear he didn't want F1 to go in that direction.


F1 wanted it. The teams asked Pirelli to produce tyres that would challenge them. Nothing to do with the FIA, or Jean Todt, at all.



#22 redreni

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Posted 25 July 2013 - 12:35

Tell me. What did Mosley ever do for WRC, WTCC or the GTs?

Not a lot.


I judge it by the results. Maybe Mosley didn't need to do anything to keep those categories in reasonable health during his presidency, in which case he was right not to meddle. Or maybe he was doing things but not making a song and dance out of it. Either way, WRC was at least surviving and looking viable and WTCC and FIA GT were thriving under Mosley. The major problems came after he left.

#23 Fastcake

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Posted 25 July 2013 - 15:23

I judge it by the results. Maybe Mosley didn't need to do anything to keep those categories in reasonable health during his presidency, in which case he was right not to meddle. Or maybe he was doing things but not making a song and dance out of it. Either way, WRC was at least surviving and looking viable and WTCC and FIA GT were thriving under Mosley. The major problems came after he left.


Compare the WRC when Mosley took over and when he left. It was a complete shadow of itself, even if it's not much better today.

#24 Lucass

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Posted 25 July 2013 - 18:46

So it sounds like he would stand just for the sake of the election not being a whitewash. Perhaps Todt himself is encouraging some token opposition?

I would think so iirc Ward was one of Todt's closest allies in his 2009 campaign

#25 BoschKurve

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Posted 25 July 2013 - 19:40

I would like to challenge that (Todt's part). Tire spec has fingerprints on by Ecclestone, Whitmarsh and alike, but Todt's? That's not his style to be confrontational like MM was, and once TWG decides what they want to do, I doubt he would fight it. If you know any better, feel free to quote him. He is a facilitator, and he has to sign some papers, but that's formality. The crowd he is working are all old MM's hexes. It takes a decade or so to turn this mammoth around, unless he would fire the most on the spot (which he cannot do, of course).


That's the real problem for Todt. You've got a bunch of people in the FIA still who probably have framed pictures of MrM on their walls, as for some he was the paragon of fairness and ethics.

Now don't get me wrong, the days of Balestre weren't all wine and roses as the number of idiot decisions Balestre made were quite numerous. He managed to enrage both the fanbases of Ayron Senna and Alain Prost in the span of a year.

But nothing will ever trump Mosley's handing of the commercial rights to MrE for nothing.

I often wonder if Todt's seeming silence has to do with perhaps trying to maneuver without the circus of attention MrM brought when he felt it was ok to act as judge, jury, and executioner on all matters.

#26 ArnageWRC

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Posted 25 July 2013 - 19:57

Compare the WRC when Mosley took over and when he left. It was a complete shadow of itself, even if it's not much better today.



He did nothing when trouble struck. End of 2005 with Mitsubishi, Skoda, Peugeot & Citroen (for one season) all pulled out - time for decisive action. Nothing.
3 years later, Suzuki, then Subaru pull out, leaving only Ford and Citroen - again, nothing. Yet at the same time Honda pull out of F1, and he mentions 'saving F1'.

Is it a coincidence that under his presidency, the other non F1 Motorsports were marginalised???


#27 BoschKurve

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Posted 25 July 2013 - 20:25

He did nothing when trouble struck. End of 2005 with Mitsubishi, Skoda, Peugeot & Citroen (for one season) all pulled out - time for decisive action. Nothing.
3 years later, Suzuki, then Subaru pull out, leaving only Ford and Citroen - again, nothing. Yet at the same time Honda pull out of F1, and he mentions 'saving F1'.

Is it a coincidence that under his presidency, the other non F1 Motorsports were marginalised???


Don't forget before Mosley, Balestre banned Group B under the guise of safety, and then the following year saw even more deaths.

#28 BRG

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Posted 26 July 2013 - 10:36

Is it a coincidence that under his presidency, the other non F1 Motorsports were marginalised???

Not at all. Max was Bernie's liege man, bought body and soul, and it was Bernie's command that any series that threatened his F1 cash cow should be squished.

Don't forget before Mosley, Balestre banned Group B under the guise of safety, and then the following year saw even more deaths.

Balestre had not choice. It was either that or see rallying banned by governments. He had to be seen to act decisively, even if it was not actually addressing the real cause, which was really suicidal spectators and complacent organisers. Hence the problem continued. Also, the deaths of famous drivers was seen by the media as important compared to nameless spectators so the FIA had to be seen to act.

#29 Velocifer

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Posted 27 July 2013 - 00:23

One can only guess at the amount of politicking Mr. Mosely will be doing on behalf of David Ward.

The sad thing is, because of Ward being one of Mosley's buddies, I do not know if the re-election of Todt will be guaranteed. A shame as I suspect a Ward election would bring back the bad old days of MrM for F1. I also would foresee him being the preferred choice of MrE for however long he remains at the helm of FOM. The interesting thing will be to see if MrE pulls the same double-dealing bullshit he pulled back in 1991 when he sandbagged Balestre in favor of Mosley.

It was impossible that Mosley would go awat quietly and never be heard from again the way he had to be dynamited out in the first place, and no doubt this is his move.

Will be interesting to see what Todt has to put up with and if Ecclestone cares one way or the other. After all he got his way with the Mercedes test so Todt seems to be for-business too, but of course never on the level as Mosley and probably what this Ward would be if he's of the Mosley ilk or even a puppet.

#30 nosecone

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Posted 22 October 2013 - 20:41

Did i get it right that there is no competition against Todt for the FiA leadership? Would be sad. A election/vote needs a competitor to deserve its name... and if the competitor just forces Todt to work harder on his goals...

 

1.   We still have too many junior racing series or at least some say so.

2.   WRC is still in a bad situation (although it is a bit better than last year)

3.   F1 is still dictated by the big teams (ehm as a fan of a big team i shouldn't call this bad...)

3.1 and bernie


Edited by nosecone, 22 October 2013 - 20:48.


#31 RosannaG

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Posted 22 October 2013 - 21:31

Did i get it right that there is no competition against Todt for the FiA leadership? Would be sad. A election/vote needs a competitor to deserve its name... and if the competitor just forces Todt to work harder on his goals...

 

1.   We still have too many junior racing series or at least some say so.

2.   WRC is still in a bad situation (although it is a bit better than last year)

3.   F1 is still dictated by the big teams (ehm as a fan of a big team i shouldn't call this bad...)

3.1 and bernie

 

Not yet but very likely.... 

 

http://www.dailymail...presidency.html



#32 metz

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Posted 24 October 2013 - 15:54

"The idea of democratic elections, is not practical." - Nick Craw, FIA  Senate President