Jean Todt, the former director of the Ferrari Formula 1 team, has been elected as the new president of the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) in Paris today. He replaces Max Mosley, who had become increasingly controversial after 16 years on the job.
Todt has been widely regarded as Mosley's handpicked successor, and he defeated opposition candidate Ari Vatanen, a former rally driver, by a margin of 2:1 thanks to his support from FIA chapters around the world. Frenchman Todt began his own career as a rally navigator, took charge of the Peugeot rally team and eventually led the Peugeot motorsports operation to victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. This background led him to the Ferrari F1 team, where he formed a group that dominated the sport for a decade.
The ability of Todt to lead Formula 1 is questionable. The Frenchman has been noted for his behind-the-scenes politics, and precisely this secretive style led his predecessor Mosley into conflict with the F1 teams. Early this year, eight of the sport's 10 teams had threatened to set up a breakaway series after being angered by FIA-directed initiatives, notably a future spending cap for team budgets and an expensive debacle this year with KERS hybrid electric motors for F1 cars.
In an interview with the U.K.'s Guardian newspaper just prior to the vote, Todt said he wants to "start from a blank sheet" and called himself a "candidate of harmony." The interviewer noted that Todt is "a demanding man second only to Mosley when it comes to raising the hackles of most F1 insiders," but Todt insisted he intended "to put harmony in a place where it has been missing," also saying he would appoint a commissioner to run Formula 1 if elected.
For the moment, Formula 1 seems likely to continue to be the political circus it has been for the last 20 years, as the FIA, the Formula 1 teams, the race promoters, and the financial consortium that owns F1's commercial rights all wrestle for control of the money machine.
SnakeDoctor says:
09:47 AM, 10/23/09
Oh crap.