08/08/2010
NEWS STORY
 |
In the nine months since his election as president of the FIA, we have seen little of Jean Todt. All that's about to change as the Frenchman faces his first serious test.
Thus far, it has to be said the Frenchman has done a good job, so much so that Pitpass has publicly admitted that many of its previous misgivings about his candidacy have proved wrong.
Unlike his predecessor, he is not confrontational furthermore he is happy to rule his kingdom from the shadows. Pitpass' fears that his reign as FIA president would merely be an extension of Max Mosley's, allowing the Englishman to continue running the sport, albeit by proxy, proved groundless, he has also swept aside much of Mosley's Praetorian Guard. In short, Todt has proved not to be the ventriloquist's dummy we feared him to be and has, thus far, shown himself to be his own man.
However, as much as he preferred to run the sport from the shadows, using persuasion rather than force, next month he will find himself under intense scrutiny when he sits in judgement of his former team. We say 'sits in judgement' when in fact the meeting will be chaired by the FIA deputy President for Sport, a move introduced by Todt with a nod to the findings of the Tribunal de Grande Instance. However, anyone who thinks that the FIA president will have no influence is either very naive or a fool.
Between 1993 and 2007 he led Ferrari to six drivers' titles and eight constructors' championships. Over those fifteen seasons, Ferrari won ninety-eight Grands Prix, just six shy of the Maranello outfit's total number of victories since the inception of Formula One until he took control.
However, the success didn't come easy, victory came at a price, the Italian team all too often mired in controversy. Be it Schumacher's methods on track or the legality of components the legendary team found itself in the headlines for all the wrong reasons.
Yet, despite the controversy that surrounded the Italian team, there was a feeling that it was rarely taken to task, leading to the sport's governing body to be nicknamed 'Ferrari International Assistance'.
Next month, the FIA's World Motor Sport Council sits in judgement of Ferrari in respect of the claim that it manipulated the result of the German Grand Prix by issuing team orders.
Team orders were outlawed by the FIA in 2002, following the scandal over Ferrari's manipulation of the result of the Austrian Grand Prix when Rubens Barrichello was ordered to move over and defer to teammate Michael Schumacher in the final corner of the final lap. While team orders were subsequently banned, it is worth remembering that the one million fine wasn't for the manipulation of the result but the fact that the team went against podium protocol when a clearly embarrassed Schumacher invited his teammate on to the top step of the podium.
The team boss that day, the man who went to the Place de la Concorde to argue the Maranello outfit's case, the man who had also ostensibly given the order for Barrichello to acquiesce to his teammate was M. Todt.
To further complicate matters, Todt's son, Nicolas, is the manger of Felipe Massa, one of the two drivers at the heart of the scandal. Who wouldn't want to be a fly-on-the-wall when the two meet up for breakfast before and after the hearing.
Todt's first public test is possibly the worst scenario possible, for the WMSC sits in judgement of a team with which Todt enjoyed untold success but which also was widely perceived as enjoying an easy ride in terms of the governing body. If he is to prove to be his own man and dispel the notion of 'Ferrari International Assistance' he must come down hard on the Italian team, but then again, won't Ferrari subsequently claim that it is this need to prove himself that will cloud Todt's approach.
Whatever the rights and wrongs, Ferrari is charged with using team orders in order to manipulate the result of the race and team orders are illegal, fact. While fans, journalists and paddock insiders will point to quite obvious 'tampering' at rivals teams in recent years - and even this season - Ferrari is in the spotlight not so much for what they did but how they did it.
Ferrari has been a leading force in the teams' alliance FOTA - the Formula One Teams Association - and only a couple of weeks earlier had taken part in a fans forum in London. FOTA makes much of its desire to please the fans, its need to provide a "show", however where was the "show" when Rob Smedley gave Massa that infamous radio call.
Where was the "show" when Luca di Montezemolo defended the situation claiming that it is the interests of the team that come before the interests of the drivers, and therefore, presumably, before the interests of the fans.
As we look ahead to president Todt's big day, a couple of comments spring to mind.
When we sought the opinion of a senior insider, the response was: "This is his first controversy and, particularly for him, quite a tricky one. In my view he is often too slow and indecisive. There will be problems if he doesn't deal with this one quickly.
"What Ferrari did was blindingly stupid and a clear breach of the rules. They ought, at the least, to lose both positions. That would be bad luck on Massa but he should have said: 'I'm sorry, I can't do that, it's against the rules'. I know one or two drivers who would have said just that. He could have added that he agreed Alonso was quicker and no doubt would make further attempts to overtake.
"In the end, Ferrari have had endless opportunities to propose the abolition of the team order rule. They have never done so, so they have no excuse not to observe it."
On the other hand, as it prepares for the hearing, Ferrari might want to recall the words of their old rival Ron Dennis, who back in 1999 - when, with three races remaining, and his two drivers (Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard) separated by just twelve points in a four-way fight for the title - said: "During the course of the season, we work strenuously to treat both of our drivers evenly and ensure that they are both equally favoured in terms of chances to win the World Championship.
"Having said that, when we are seeking to close down the championship from a threat by another team, it is only logical to help the driver who has the best mathematical chance of doing so. This is entirely different from deciding at the start of the season that one driver is a number one and will be specifically favoured over the number two, irrespective of the status of the World Championship."
On September 8, Jean Todt must emerge from the shadows and justice must not only be done, it must be seen to be done, his and the FIA's credibility depends on it.