Jean Todt - New FIA President

[swca92]

Todt is a terrible candidate, a diabolical choice. He'd be as popular and liked as a pile of dog s**t if he became president.

[sejtur]

Ohhh, then we should have Obama as candidate too, he should gain way more popularity...

[Tommi]

Hopefully not Vatanen. He's idiot.

[Ali]

Ari Vatanen: Exclusive interview on Mosley, budget caps and the F1 calendar
by Keith Collantine, F1Fanatic.com

F1F: Max Mosley has said he wants Jean Todt to succeed him - are you happy with this?

AV: It doesn’t matter if you’re Ari Vatanen, or Jean Todt, or Keith Collantine, or anyone else - you don’t inherit the right to be in charge from the incumbent, you inherit it from the people who elect you. I believe the president should be neutral.

If the FIA is to be what it wants to be - the representative of billions of motorists - it has to be democratically run.

F1F: When did you decide to stand for president?

AV: It had been smouldering away in my mind for some time.

I had dinner with Jacques Regis (president of the Fédération Française du Sport Automobile) in Paris a while ago and he reminded me: “Ari, I said to you five years ago you were one of the people I thought best suited to run the FIA after Max.” At the time I’d said I couldn’t do it because I was in the European Parliament.

And during the events last year I thought perhaps an opportunity to stand might come up.

F1F: When will you announce who’s in your cabinet?

AV: Next week, before the Hungarian Grand Prix. I don’t want to take anything away from what Jean has announced but I believe I have credible people lined up.

F1F: Todt is seen as Mosley’s choice of candidate and you are seen as FOTA’s choice of candidate. Would you say that is an accurate impression?

AV: Not at all. I cannot imagine that the only alternative to the FIA view is FOTA’s.

Take a look at my voting record in the European Parliament on things like block exemption, garage servicing and car taxation. I have always been on the side of the consumer. I backed legislation which allowed Finnish citizens to go abroad and import cars, which manufacturers didn’t like, but was what consumers wanted.

In F1 our consumers are the manufacturers. If we don’t give them an attractive business environment they will go elsewhere. It is in the interest of the clubs and the FIA that the manufacturers want to be involved. Power games like what we have had are short-term and self-destructive.

If they see they are wasting money and the daily running of affairs is made cumbersome because the rules are lacking stability (which big companies need) they will leave. I want to finish with this one-sided approach.

F1F: A major part of your work in the European Parliament was road safety promotion. What would you hope to achieve in road safety as FIA president?

AV: It’s not just a question of road safety, it’s about the value of life. It is the most noble human cause to protect human life.

At the highest government level we must make them aware of the importance of road transport. Nine times out of ten people choose to make a journey in a private car because of the advantages it gives. Politicians must realise people are not wrong to make this decision, they are just choosing what’s best.

I’m not against public transport but private motorists have to pay high costs and I think they should all be treated on an equal footing. Our society cannot function with poor road networks - it must meet the needs of its users. That includes car safety and we have to realise cars have improved in this way by leaps and bounds.

F1F: Budget caps have been a major sticking point of the negotiations in F1. Are you in favour of them?

AV: Things like this hav to be done in an intelligent way. Ferrari is a brilliant example of this.

Ferrari produces only 6,000 cars per year yet is able to run its production and an F1 team, thanks to its brand value and the sponsors it is able to bring in. You can’t go to Ferrari and say “F1 is too expensive” because their business concept is sound.

You have to negotiate with everybody, not just come up with proposals that would change the setup totally.

F1F: Should F1 return to North America?

AV: Yes, of course. Surely we should.

F1F: Even if they won’t pay as much as, say, Abu Dhabi or Bahrain?

AV: Once again, it’s like anything else in life - you need to get all the people around the table. I’m an all-market economist. We cannot just have races for the highest bidder.

If the anchoring countries, the birth places of motor sport, are without Grands Prix, then we have gone too far.

There is an argument for rotating rounds between different years but we cannot rotate the whole championship. Nor can we let people take it for granted that they will always have a Grand Prix.

If we leave too many places it will have an effect on audience figures. You’ll see it in the grandstands and on TV. It comes back to the consumers, the people who want to take their families to see the Grand Prix. If they can’t, then who will be paying for our sport?

It always comes back to the consumer. If they are not happy, they will vote with their feet.

[phil1993]

That is one of the most sensible interviews I have heard in years

[JoostLamers]

I hope he or someone else can achieve a return to America..

[AzShadow]

Isn't F1Fanatic like a fan site or something? How on earth did they get an interview with Vatanen? He's definitely closer to the fans than the other FIA guys then.

[Ali]

Isn't F1Fanatic like a fan site or something? How on earth did they get an interview with Vatanen? He's definitely closer to the fans than the other FIA guys then.

Exactly. He even has a Twitter account, albeit in Finnish.

Oops, you can translate it for us

[Zack]

Isn't F1Fanatic like a fan site or something? How on earth did they get an interview with Vatanen? He's definitely closer to the fans than the other FIA guys then.

No, it is bread & butter of the owner

Despite being Ferrari Fan .. i think todt would be wrong choice. It has to be Ari Vatanen but i think Max Mosley still has lot command over FIA so Todt will win

[swca92]

That is one of the most sensible interviews I have heard in years

The FIA are as sensible as a child asking for a rocket powered car for christmas. They run the sport badly, don't listen to fans (and barely listen to the teams) and are there to make as much money as possible. Vatanen, who seems sensible, I can't see beating Todt as Mosley is still popular with the FIA and he's backing him, despite the teams and fans wanting otherwise.

[Ali]

Poll added.

[phil1993]

Todt hopes election maintains integrity

Spoiler:

Jean Todt has said he hopes that the campaign for the FIA presidency can maintain its democratic integrity, in the wake of controversial comments by Ari Vatanen, currently his only rival in the election.

Vatanen spoke out this week suggesting that the FIA was funding and supporting Todt's campaign by flying him around the world.

Those comments have been strongly criticised by the FIA Foundation, an independent charity, which has written to Vatanen to express its disappointment about his stance and made it clear his claims were wrong.

The Foundation clarified that Todt had travelled recently to Africa accompanying his partner, the actress Michelle Yeoh, who had been speaking at a road safety conference in her role as the global ambassador for the Make Roads Safe campaign. This campaign is coordinated by the FIA Foundation, of which Todt is a trustee.

Although according to his campaign spokesman Todt is reluctant to become involved in the trading of negative soundbites, in the wake of Vatanen's remarks, he has made a short statement on the matter - saying he hopes that the election campaign does not turn personal and can focus on the real issues.

"We are three months away from the election of a new President of the FIA," said Todt on Wednesday. "This period gives the FIA membership an important opportunity before making their choice to reflect on the Federation's achievements, its future goals and challenges.

"I would hope that all candidates will conduct their campaigns with dignity and avoid personalising the issues or engaging in the spreading of disparaging or false allegations.

"I am very proud of the voluntary work Michelle Yeoh has done as the global ambassador for the Make Roads Safe campaign. To gain an accurate insight into Michelle's role I would encourage everyone to watch the film 'Turning Point' and see for themselves her contribution to improving global road safety.

"In future I hope everyone can stick to the issues and respect the integrity of this democratic process."

Yeoh's work on road safety has received widespread international support, and helped result in the documentary 'Turning Point' (which can be seen here http://www.makeroadssafe.org/Pages/home.aspx) that has received widespread coverage around the world.

* Columns which appeared in the features area on autosport.com and in AUTOSPORT magazine last week claimed that a private jet, paid for by the FIA, had taken Jean Todt and Michelle Yeoh to Africa for their recent engagements there.

AUTOSPORT accepts that these claims were untrue and that Jean Todt and his partner Michelle Yeoh travelled to Africa by scheduled airline and not at the FIA's expense. AUTOSPORT would like to apologise for any confusion caused by these reports.

Source: http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/77123

[fn1m]

It has to be Vatanen.

[Ali]

* Columns which appeared in the features area on autosport.com and in AUTOSPORT magazine last week claimed that a private jet, paid for by the FIA, had taken Jean Todt and Michelle Yeoh to Africa for their recent engagements there.

AUTOSPORT accepts that these claims were untrue and that Jean Todt and his partner Michelle Yeoh travelled to Africa by scheduled airline and not at the FIA's expense. AUTOSPORT would like to apologise for any confusion caused by these reports.

[iceman1]

* Columns which appeared in the features area on autosport.com and in AUTOSPORT magazine last week claimed that a private jet, paid for by the FIA, had taken Jean Todt and Michelle Yeoh to Africa for their recent engagements there.

AUTOSPORT accepts that these claims were untrue and that Jean Todt and his partner Michelle Yeoh travelled to Africa by scheduled airline and not at the FIA's expense. AUTOSPORT would like to apologise for any confusion caused by these reports.

Ari Vatanen

At the expense of the FIA Foundation, Jean goes with a private plane with his girlfriend, supposedly as a FIA representative, to various parts of the world, sometimes he has gone to Asia, sometimes to Canada, sometimes to Buenos Aires, whatever. In fact, he is doing a campaign totally supported and paid by the FIA

sometimes to Lebanon

At Ferrari they don’t want Todt to be president, and so they have told me, because they think they sport would lose credibility. The same would happen if it was Ross Brawn or Flavio Briatore running. The president of the FIA must be someone neutral