JULY 17, 2009

Todt confirms his team

Jean Todt has launched his campaign to be FIA President, although in fact this has been going on for same weeks in the background. Todt has revealed that he intends to have Brian Gibbons, as Deputy President for Mobility. Gibbons is chief executive of the New Zealand Automobile Association. he is proposing England's Graham Stoker as Deputy President for Sport. Stoker is chairman of the UK‘s Motor Sports Association. He is proposing American Nick Craw as the new president of the FIA Senate. Craw is currently Deputy President (Sport) and head of the US national sporting authority ACCUS. The team is clearly one that Max Mosley would approve of an is seen by many in F1 as likely to be an extension of the same kind of politics.

We hear also the FIA head of communications Richard Woods, one of Mosley's closest allies, has resigned from his position and is now working for Todt.

The Todt candidacy will not go down well in F1 circles where he is not fondly remembered by the teams after his years at Ferrari.

One question that is being asked at the moment is whether or not the FIA will have any kind of vetting process for the candidates for the presidency, given that happened with Max Mosley and the recent spanking scandal. It remains to be seen whether the federation will look into the background of the candidates or whether this will be left to the media, as happens in most political systems these days. This is a very important point given the damage that was done by the 2008 scandal and by the FIA's decision to support Mosley's presidency and thus tacitly accept that what he was caught doing as being acceptable. It is imperative that the next candidate does not have skeletons in his cupboard as another such scandal could further weaken the prestige of the federation.