Question: Why do you want to be FIA President?
Jean Todt: Throughout my career, as a competitor, manager, team principal and chief executive I have enjoyed success in an intensely competitive environment. I’ve worked with incredibly talented and dedicated people, teams and organisations with great passion, pride and commitment. Now working closely with my candidacy team, I want to bring all the experience I have gained throughout my career and apply it for the benefit of the FIA and its membership.
In the last few weeks I have found it inspirational working with my team, Nick Craw, Brian Gibbons and Graham Stoker. Together we have developed a policy agenda for the FIA which we all think is exciting and offers a new vision of how the FIA should develop in the years ahead. I’m very hopeful that we will be given the chance to implement what we have proposed. It is quite humbling to think that we could be given the opportunity to help shape the future of the FIA in this way.
I have been very fortunate in my career to have enjoyed considerable success in motor sport. Like so many others in our sport I have benefited from the hard work of previous leaders of the FIA in creating a global platform on which to compete. I feel that for me the time is now right to give something back to the sport and the FIA’s clubs that have given me so much.
Question: Your opponent has proposed to change the FIA voting system to give more votes to the biggest clubs with the largest membership. Do you think the voting system of the FIA should be changed in this way?
Jean Todt: I don’t agree with this idea at all. It would concentrate power and decision-making in the FIA in the hands of a just a few mobility clubs that have large memberships simply because they happen to exist in countries with large populations. That would be unfair and undemocratic.
The FIA is the equivalent of the United Nations for global motor sport and mobility. Like the UN every member of the FIA has the right to vote, irrespective of their size. I am committed to this fundamental principle because it ensures that the democratic rights of all our clubs, big or small, are equally balanced.
Quite rightly an FIA presidential candidate can only be successful if he and his team appeal to a broad range of the FIA membership, large or small, motoring or motor sport.
Question: There has been some criticism of Max Mosley’s endorsement of your candidacy. What’s your view about this?
Jean Todt: Like everyone in the FIA Max should be entitled to his opinion. I’m very honoured by his comments but Max knows, as I do, that the full membership and only the full membership of the FIA will decide who the next President of the FIA will be. Max has made a fantastic contribution during his years as President and if elected I will respect his legacy but I will also bring some crucial changes to the FIA.
I am more of a manager than a politician, and my defining characteristic is to encourage and ensure teamwork. That is what I have tried to do throughout my career and it has been the reason for the success that I have achieved in a number of motor sport disciplines. The FIA is a highly complex organisation and I think my management experience and skills will offer something new and unique to the FIA’s membership.
UPDATE: August 14, 2009 07:15 am
Jean Todt has insisted his long-time Ferrari links will not prevent him having the ability to act as an impartial FIA president if he wins the right to succeed Max Mosley in October’s election.
The Frenchman, as incumbent Mosley’s preferred successor, will go up against former world rally champion Ari Vatanen in the October 23 vote, with both candidates having ramped up their campaigns in recent weeks.
And with the election race continuing to hot up, Todt’s campaign team issued an interview with the former Ferrari team boss and CEO on Friday in which he further outlined his plans should he be elected to the office and addressed some of the concerns raised about his candidacy.
While the Formula One Teams’ Association had previously indicated it would prefer a new president that had no past or existing ties to an F1 team, Todt – who guided Ferrari to an avalanche of world titles during his 13-years as team principal – has dismissed the suggestion his former roles at the Scuderia would mean he couldn’t carry out his F1 duties in a neutral way.
“Initially some people suggested that I would be Ferrari’s choice for the presidency, then the media was that told that Ferrari didn’t want me, and the Scuderia responded by saying that they were in fact neutral,” Todt said
“Of course, I completely agree with them. They should be neutral as I will be to all the teams if I am elected President.
“This is a question of commitment and professionalism.”
“The success I have enjoyed, with every team that I have ever worked with, has been founded upon professionalism and a total commitment to that team’s goals.”
“My approach to the FIA is no different.”
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