The bitterly-fought FIA presidential election is too important to ignore
The FIA presidential election is on Friday
With the FIA presidential election just days away the row over Max Mosley’s efforts to ensure he is succeeded by Jean Todt and not Ari Vatanen is the subject of great scrutiny.
Vatanen has taken the step of appealing to a French court to ensure next week’s elections are carried out fairly, a move which drew an angry reaction from the FIA which insisted its procedures are fair and transparent.
It is typical of the FIA under Mosley that it should react to Vatanen’s request for legal oversight in such a heavy-handed way. If the FIA had nothing to fear from an investigation it would welcome it.
But with Mosley publicly backing Todt and other FIA members have been lobbying for him, it’s no surprise the FIA is being viewed with suspicion.
The latest row began after the Daily Telegraph published letters from two senior FIA officals who had been lobbying for Todt. The FIA Foundation reacted by insisting that the pair – FIA director general of region one Peter Doggwiler and director general of the FIA Foundation David Ward – were backing Todt in a private capacity not endorsed by the Foundation.
The support of Mosley and Ecclestone has proved a double-edged sword for Todt. It may have guaranteed the backing of some clubs, but for others Todt is tainted by association with the current regime.
A reminder of that came in Mosley’s letter to the FIA three days ago in which he heaped praise upon himself over the recent Renault scandal:
More recently we had an extraordinary plot to crash a car deliberately during a race. Again, there was controversy but this time the car manufacturer responsible took action and the truth was quickly established.
The FIA first became aware of this plot during last year’s Brazilian Grand Prix, yet took almost a year to investigate it. This was not ‘quickly establishing’ the truth. Why did the FIA wait so long? Was it because Briatore sided with FOTA in the teams’ row with the FIA earlier this year?
A close call
The election probably wouldn’t be generating quite this much antagonism if one candidate was comfortably in the lead. We could be looking at a fairly close call.
So far the motor sports clubs of Australia, Germany, Finland, Canada, Uganda, Jamaica, Netherlands, Sweden, South Africa, Ireland, Jordan, Peru, Switzerland, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Ukraine have all declared support for Ari Vatanen.
Jean Todt is known to be backed by the clubs of Bahrain, Monaco, India, France, Spain and the United Arab Emirates. However earlier this week he claimed to have the support of the majority of clubs in Africa, Asia, South America, Europe and the Middle East.
It’s difficult to understate the importance of these elections for the future of Formula 1. It’s been a turbulent 18 years under Mosley, who has often made a dramatic and expensive change to the rules only to undo it a few months or years later. Meanwhile the sport has been dragged through a seemingly unending sequence of damaging scandals.
So it is beyond me how some journalists with the access and opportunities to cover the election are choosing not to. Such as Joe Saward, who wrote on his blog:
I have completely ignored the FIA elections in recent weeks. This has been a deliberate policy as I do not wish to be accused by one side or the other of favouritism and given the shenanigans going on between them it is inevitable that even objective reporting will be viewed as partisan. In addition I feel that the whole process demeans the federation.
Not expressing a preference is one thing but this uniquely important, once-in-a-generation event should not be overlooked out of fear of treading on people’s toes.
An open, honest, fair election would not demean the federation. A rigged vote and a coronation would demean it, but we’re less likely to know that is the case if some journalists aren’t bothering to look. My disappointment in Saward’s stance is all the greater as I admire much of his writing.
Personally I have no qualms about expressing a preference: On the whole I am deeply dissatisfied with what Mosley has done for Formula 1 – particularly in the five years since he last promised to resign. I am therefore not willing to support a candidate who has his backing. And certainly not one who displayed the disdain for sportsmanship Jean Todt did in the 1989 Paris-Dakar Rally and the 2002 Austrian Grand Prix. At the last count 77% of this site’s readers felt the same.
F1 has been rocked by scandal after scandal in the past few years: Michelin, Indianapolis, spying, budget caps, Singapore – not to mention a string of inconsistent and disproportionately punitive stewards’ decisions.
Whoever wins this election has the chance to fix this, and if they fail it could be another 18 years before they are replaced.
Accredited F1 journalists often stand accused of giving the FIA an easy ride out of fear they will lose their precious permits. In 2007 the media colluded with the FIA in covering up a horrendous cock-up where confidential McLaren and Ferrari data appeared in a public FIA document.
Now more than ever we need the FIA to be held to account. A timid media with a a vested interest in preserving the status quo is not going to achieve that.
FIA President elections
- Vatanen says “tide is turning” in his favour but fears voter intimidation
- Ari Vatanen: The man who would challenge Max Mosley (Video)
- Ari Vatanen: Exclusive interview on Mosley, budget caps and the F1 calendar
- Jean Todt vs Ari Vatanen (Poll)
- Max Mosley will give up FIA presidency – but he wants Jean Todt in charge
JHunt said on 17th October 2009, 14:21
Talk about bias, I am not sure supporting the other guy, because you don’t support anyone that the current guy vouches for is a good reason. Its like disapproving McCain because of Bush, heck, if you hated Balestre did you want Mosley to win?
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine) said on 17th October 2009, 16:14
I was nine at the time so I probably didn’t know who either of them were.
Martin said on 18th October 2009, 0:58
That is the problem, the association of todt ot mosely is the whole reason. Max has shown his incompetence on several levels and has retaliated against anyone who opposes him in any manner. Look at Dennis, now Briatore(although I agree with that one) and others such as Brundle. I did not care about todt at all until mosely came out and endorsed him and then the cynic in me started to question why.
Max is a bad man, period
He has made deals with Bernie and cvc that any other business would laugh at and I am not sure but are probably illeagal in most other countries.
Todt has been very successful but at the expense of others. and yes I would vote for anyone other just because max and his cronies are supporting him.
mp4 is right though…Ari never had a chance.
Steve_P said on 17th October 2009, 16:45
James Allen has covered it somewhat. He posted an article today, but it doesn’t really add anything that Keith’s article didn’t address. Here is the link though.
http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2009/10/fia-loses-patience-with-vatanen/
Arnet said on 18th October 2009, 17:44
James is also playing it safe, however the title of the post is a bit one side.
Salty said on 17th October 2009, 17:20
Well done you for your continual and overt support for Ari. Max’s blatent attempt to undermine any challenge to his nominated shoe-in, complete with barely veiled threat of payback for any members not supporting his choice, is typical of the heavy handed and dictatorial nature of his overripe tenure.
I hope the voting members have the courage to finally push off the yoke that has been Max’s FIA. I believe Ari will see in a new open era for the FIA, one where the interests of the motor sport industries and fans will be put above personal gain.
Rohan said on 17th October 2009, 22:28
I feel that I must stand up for Todt, seeing as no-one else here is. To think that Max saying that his preferred candidate is Todt does not in any way mean that Todt will govern in the same way as has Max (not that that would be a bad thing, but that’s a different matter entirely).
Most importantly, I feel, at least Todt has experience of running teams in motorsport, whereas Vatenen has little experience of running anything. This, above all, is enough reason (in my opinion) to choose Todt.
However, also important is the way that both candidates have conducted their campaign – Todt has gone about his campaign in a dignifiedand unassuming way, visiting clubs to talk to them, while Vatenen appears to have spent much of his campaign complaining about one thing or the other. If this is any indication of the type of president each would be (and I think it is), then it is clear why Todt is, in my opinion, the better candidate.
Gman said on 17th October 2009, 23:24
I can’t agree more with the comments made about Todt- while I was not following the sport when those events were unfolding, it is obvious that his election would be just a continuation of the Mosley regime. Indeed, Max will be running much of the show from the shadows.
However, I don’t know if Ari’s promise of change will be enough to beat out the deep-rooted corruption of the Mosley/Todt pairing. I certainly hope it is.
Lewis Janelle said on 5th March 2010, 20:28
Thanks for that excellent article. Is this a wordpress website? I like that platform, very good.