FIA Ari Vatanen to run for FIA Presidency

[Brogan]

I suspect this will be welcome news to most.
Ari Vatanen has confirmed that he will run for the FIA Presidency in October.

Bernie Ecclestone has suggested that Max Mosley will in fact stand down so hopefully he will stand unopposed and will get the backing of the existing FIA cabinet members.

Of course nothing is certain when it comes to Max and his penchant for changing his mind but with Ari declaring his intentions to stand, it may just be the impetus that is needed.

Listening to Ari's interview on the BBC, he was highly critical of Max and the current dictatorial style of leadership so I doubt Max will be voting for him

Links to Autosport articles below.
Vatanen to run for FIA presidency
Ecclestone: Mosley will not stand again

 

[bogaTYR]

one wonders how long it will take for F1 fans to declare Ari if elected public enemy number 1 and even worse then max.

lets hope for the best, i myself think no FIA president will ever do for F1 fans, well, f1 teams really but it does seem that yelling a lot brings you the sympathy of the public.

 

[Brogan]

Ari has garnered some support, but I doubt it's enough considering Todt has been given the backing of Mosley.

A group of 14 FIA member clubs has come out in support of Ari Vatanen's bid for the FIA presidency.

The national motoring authorities of Australia, Germany, Finland, Canada, Uganda, Jamaica, Netherlands, Sweden, South Africa, Ireland, Jordan, Peru, Switzerland and Turkey have written to fellow clubs expressing their backing for Vatanen, and urging others to add their support.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/78458

 

[cider_and_toast]

It's encouraging to see some of the bigger associations coming out on the side of Ari. I presume that Todt will have the support of France and no doubt Britain. The key countries aren't so much the bigger ones but the tiny countries that still have the same voting rights but not the same level of motorsport involvement. Hopefully, Countries like Canada, Australia and Germany can influence the smaller countries in their respective regions to put their weight behind Ari.

Are the Americans members of the FIA or do they have their own organisation?

 

[Brogan]

Not sure how up to date this is c_a_t:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_FIA_member_organisations

The FIA page is here:

http://www.fia.com/en-GB/the-fia/member-clubs/Pages/FIAMemberClubs.aspx

 

[cider_and_toast]

Having read that and read article 3 of the FIA statues we need to start lobying members of the camping and caravan club. Yep they are entitled to vote according to what I've just read and as mad as that may seem.

It would seem that Britain has about 6 votes while most of the smaller countries have one or two at most.

 

[Brogan]

Unsurprisingly, Jackie Stewart is against Jean Todt becoming the new FIA President.

"My view is that nobody [for the job] should be taken from the cockpit, the garage or the pitlane from Formula 1 – although I think there is an enormous desire for change.

"I don't think that the FIA will change much if Jean Todt gets in, because I think that regime will stay the same. I would be worried about the chances of Ari winning, but I think that [him winning] would be the right thing for the sport."

He also suggests that he was asked to stand but refused as he considers himself too old.
A sensible decision IMO.

[bg=#E3001A]Autosport[/bg] Stewart asked to run for FIA presidency

 

[cider_and_toast]

Very interesting article in todays Times that suggests that when ever Vatanen has attempted to brief the press on his ideas and plans for the overhaul of the FIA his inteviews have been knocked off the back pages by the "Renault Affair". The article speculates that the timing of the releases may be down to the FIA.

Did anyone know that Richard Woods, The FIA director of communications has taken temporary leave from his post to run Jean Todts campaign.

The general thrust of the article was that Todt is far from being as likely to win as everyone assumed and that there are even rumours he may withdraw from the race. Let's hope so.

 

[Brogan]

I hope you're not suggesting that the current President of the FIA has a personal agenda and is using his position and power against others?

How very dare you.

 

[Brogan]

A nice little barbed comment from Max Mosley about Jean Todt.

"Jean will do a much better job than me in many, many ways," said Mosley, who has publicly endorsed Todt's bid to become president. "And in some ways he will upset the F1 teams less because he probably won't come up with the next big idea.

"He will make sure it all runs like clockwork and is completely fair, honest, open and transparent - and that is what you need."

So basically he's saying that Todt has no imagination and will just act as a caretaker, unlike presumably Max himself who was a driving force for change.

Mind you, his comments about Ari are worse.

"I said, 'I will be very honest. I think Jean is a much better candidate. You have no experience, you have never run anything, you've not been in charge of even the smallest organisation, you have no concept of what it is like. You didn't even run your own rally car, you had a co-driver to do that.'"

[bg=#E3001A]Autosport[/bg] Mosley predicts less friction if Todt wins

 

[teabagyokel]

Yeah, and his 22 strong cabinet will not be co-drivers at all.

It interests me that the reason for the 22 strong cabinet is "to stop runners as a protest against the current President". Well, why else would you have an election? As if you'd dispute it if you're with the current bloke!

Its like asking Tony Blair whether he preferred Gordon Brown or David Cameron. Pointless and uninformative.

 

[Brogan]

I was just thinking that the Renault penalty may play into Ari's hands.

Surely there are a lot of organisations who will think that the 2 year suspended ban was unduly lenient.
They may therefore be tempted to vote for Ari as opposed to Jean Todt who is Mosley's preferred successor.

 

[Sakari]

I think Ari would be a much worse for the sport than Todt and I'm a Finn. Ari Vatanen imo is a bit of an idiot. He has been part of Finnish politics scene and given comments like "Human notion on global warming is the result of dishonest and forger studies".

 

[cider_and_toast]

Welcome back Sakari.

I think the general opinion is that what the sport needs is someone without an F1 background to bring a fresh perspective to the sport. With Todts background with Ferrari it raises all sorts of issues about the independance of the FIA. We have just been through all that in the last few years with the FIA seemingly favouring Ferrari at every turn so the last thing the sport needs is to create a situation where the head of the FIA is a former Ferrari boss.

Most politicians fall in to the catagory you have placed Vatanen. Sometimes they open their mouths without first warming their brains up.

It's interesting to get a perspective from someone from the same country as Ari though because it adds to the debate.

 

[Muddytalker]

One thing to remember is that the FIA is about more than F1, and more than just car racing.

Not all manufacturers or national associations are involved in motorsport, less so in F1, and perhaps the manufacturers would like someone with a wider viewpoint?

 

[RickD]

"Human notion on global warming is the result of dishonest and forger studies".

I actually don't see anything wrong with that statement. There has been a lot of deceit when it comes to global warming/climate chage or whatever you want to call it. Most of it is due to political wrangling and governments seeing that they can make money out of it.

Climate change is nothing new on this planet, it is a constant. The problem is trying to attribute how much humanity is adding to the warming affect of our planet. Opinions on this are like arseholes, everyone has one. My own is that most of the changes we are currently experiencing are natural and if anything, we are doing more damage by keeping so many cattle (methane) than we'll ever do by power plants etc..

So as far as that quote goes, it definitely doesn't make him stupid. How much would you have laughed if you had listened to the scientist 40-50 years ago if you knew what you know now about what life would be like?

A degree does not make anyone a fortune teller.

The Arctic had more summer ice this year than it has in the last 20. I thought this wasn't supposed to happen in GW, it was just supposed to get less each year?!?

 

[cider_and_toast]

"The Arctic had more summer ice this year than it has in the last 20"

Really? That's interesting.

All that the enviromental movement has done for F1 is bring us the Honda Earth Car and the less said about that the better.

 

[RickD]

Agreed CAT, please don't mention it again. I will let you off this time.

Yes, it apparently is true, but was a very small news item on the BBC, especially with their agenda on the environment..

 

[Sakari]

Cheers mate

Well I wont delve into environmental discussions more than say, that if one makes such claim what Ari made, then he's saying he knows better than few million people who study these things on daily basis. Which imo is sign of mouth being faster than head.

I think if people are honest they can be somewhat objective, which I think Todt could be. He seems very smart man and does not speak faster than he thinks. As you also might have noticed Ari's campaign has been mostly attacks towards other people which is imo bad way to make things happen.. bring solutions, don't just point the flaws.

Well.. I dunno, I make judgements on 'how I feel' basis, so my opinions might not have enough background work done to them.

Welcome back Sakari.

I think the general opinion is that what the sport needs is someone without an F1 background to bring a fresh perspective to the sport. With Todts background with Ferrari it raises all sorts of issues about the independance of the FIA. We have just been through all that in the last few years with the FIA seemingly favouring Ferrari at every turn so the last thing the sport needs is to create a situation where the head of the FIA is a former Ferrari boss.

Most politicians fall in to the catagory you have placed Vatanen. Sometimes they open their mouths without first warming their brains up.

It's interesting to get a perspective from someone from the same country as Ari though because it adds to the debate.

 

[Brogan]

I agree that Ari's campaign hasn't been the best.
However Todt hasn't had to campaign as Max has been doing it for him.

Of course we can't know how either man will be in the job; Todt may turn out to be the best FIA President ever and Ari could be worse than Max

However, to make a clean break with the past I think Ari would be the better choice for now.

Even if it's only for a few years, make the break, sort out the FIA and all the internal friendships and politics and then move forward.