Jean Todt faces an FIA election in December and for some time there has been vague talk that there might be a candidate against him. Some have felt that Bernie Ecclestone might support such a campaign if he cannot do a suitable deal over the Concorde Agreement with Jean Todt.
Thus far no-one has emerged from the shadows, while Todt has been busy, gathering commitments of support from FIA clubs in different regions, notably the Americas and Australia. However, in what looks like a deliberate leak, The Times has run a story suggesting that the Frenchman might face opposition from David Ward, the Director General of the FIA Foundation for the Automobile and Society.
Ward (56) started out in British politics and from 1988 to 1994 was chief policy advisor to the Rt Hon John Smith, who replaced Neil Kinnock as the leader of the Labour Party in 1992. He competed in karting, saloon cars and historic sports cars and is a member of the Royal Automobile Club.
Smith died of a heart attack in 1994 and was replaced by Tony Blair. After that Ward switched from politics to the automobile world, becoming the director general of the European Bureau of the FIA in Brussels from 1996. He was responsible in this role for the FIA public policy agenda including mobility, safety and the environment and was particularly involved in legislative campaigns concerning automobile crash test and emission standards, while also overseeing the FIA’s problems with the European Union over competition and the restriction of tobacco advertising and in helping to develop the EU’s attitudes towards sports governance. He played an important role in the development of the European New Car Assessment Programme crash test programme) and in recent years has played a key role in road safety programmes.
One of Max Mosley’s closest advisors, he was appointed director general of the FIA Foundation for the Automobile and Society in 2001. This is an independent UK registered charity established with an endowment of $300 million from the FIA, the money that was raised when the commercial rights of F1 were leased to Ecclestone’s Formula One group for 100 years. The Foundation’s objectives are to promote road safety, environmental protection, sustainable mobility and motor sport safety.
Ward has also been the secretary-general of the FIA International Court of Appeal.
After Max Mosley left the role of FIA President Ward remained in charge of the foundation. He campaigned for Jean Todt at the last FIA election, but has not always seen eye-to-eye with Todt since then.
Ward says that he is thinking about standing against Todt because there is always the need for a debate within the FIA and if there are no other candidates then there will be no debate. The story in The Times seems more like a toe-in-the-water test to see if there is any support for the idea of a rival candidate. The biggest problem that Ward faces is that he will be seen as a Mosley man and, by extension, a supporter of Bernie Ecclestone.
However this might not turn out to be the case. With Ecclestone possibly in deep legal trouble in Germany, there is a possible opportunity for the FIA to cancel the 100-year deal and take back the commercial rights and thus create a new structure that will be much more beneficial for the FIA and for the sport. It is not yet clear whether Todt will go down this path, as he has tended to be very cautious in all his decisions regarding F1. Ward is a man who might be more decisive and so could be seen as a much more attractive candidate by some within the FIA who seen this as an opportunity to restructure the commercial arrangements of F1 with the FIA getting a share that would enable the federation to have the money to do much more than it is currently doing in many different areas, increasing its power and influence. The F1 teams would likely support such an initiative because they would get substantially more money than is currently the case.
The prospect of a potential rival may push the FIA President towards a more active role in regaining the commercial rights, on the basis that if he does not act, it would leave the field open to a rival candidate.
The election takes place at the FIA Annual General Assembly in Paris between December 2-6. Those wishing to stand for office must put in their election lists between October 23 and November 13.
joeblogsf1 
Sounds like a good candidate. No doubt he and Ari have traded notes …
I know you made reference to this before, but I find it hard to see how the actions of an employee (in this case Bernie) mean a 100 year license contract between two entities would become invalid. Otherwise if the secretary of FOWC was caught shoplifting it would be against the FIA code too and a reason therefore to break an agreement! I’m sure the whole legal mess Bernie is in will put the owners of FOWC under great pressure and might shift some of the power in negotiations over Concorde and maybe even to the removal of Bernie as a director. However ultimately I don’t see legal implications for FOWC as they have not been accused of any wrong doing as such that would constitute a break of contract. (and I can’t see that happen because Bernie paid Gebrowski with his own money, not that of the company).
Ward’s toe-in-the-water I think is more a move by the man himself, smelling opportunity as he knows that Todt does not have too many friends on the side of teams or that of Bernie and who also has slipped up in the handling of the Bahrain GP and recently the tyre fiascos.
Or for consistency, I’ll throw in a lovely conspiracy theory on why the Ward story appeared in the Times this morning. This whole story is designed by Bernie to put pressure on Todt to sign the damn Concorde agreement so Bernie and mates can go float the company.
You got to love F1 simply for this type of thing alone.
Ha! And we were talking in recent days about how politics are in F1 , now that this new subject is in plain sight, particularly I’ll be expecting so much talk about this issue that I’m bored to death already with less than 5 months for the election…the only part that draw my atention was the one about the FIA cancelling the F1’s 100-year deal and taking back the commercial rights.
The plot thickens. Blow-for-blow stuff, slowly building up to a crescendo, fascinating.
Well maybe this will wake Todt the Invisible from his slumber.
I cannot help but equate the FIA to the wizards of Terry Pratchett’s Unseen University with Big dinners” the man priority.
We saw Todt on the recent BBC documentary about Group B Rallying, where he was very active in raising Peugeot from the dead and providing serious competition. He may feel that he can rest on his laurels but they are unknown to the younger generation.
He promised to be different to Max and not so “high profile”, not a difficult task. He has certainly achieved that, even on issues such as Bahrain he has remained silent, distant, aloof. The unexplained parting of Gary Hartstein
needs explaining.
He has not appeared to be involved with any negotiation with Bernie over the CA, something which one would think should be a priority for him, he does not recognise that this is of interest to the public and the fans, or if he does, it matters not to him, is he really that aloof that he the president does not talk to the peasants.
Thank goodness for Mr Ward, I hope he provokes Todt into speaking in public.
Big dinners and possibly, officers.
Whilst the background given for Ward does raise some questions in my mind on programmes, if he were to stand on the basis of wresting control of the sport from Bernie and CVC in favour of FIA I’d say vote for David Ward.
That is great journalism. Never retire, please. Thank you!
People seem to think that I am old! I am not. I have at least another 20-odd years before that it is going to happen… if indeed it ever does.
Seriously Joe …. folks in yours and my profession hardly ever retire ! We may fade away or simply rust into oblivion …. but retire ? Not likely 😉
As to the election . It has been sad to see the man Todt has morphed into since his days at Peugeot ….IMO I’ve been non too thrilled since the day he was elected ( personally .. I voted for Vatanen ).. but in reality … what with all the support Todt has from the Vatican/Papacy of F1 ( Ferrari ) does anyone even stand a chance of de-throning him in the next election ? Much as I’d like to see some new blood in the position ( or even better .. Ari making a last minute end run and taking the majority ) I’m not convinced …. though I’ll gladly be proven wrong should the election turn out otherwise .
I don’t think that Ferrari has THAT much power at the FIA.
“People seem to think that I am old! I am not. I have at least another 20-odd years before that it is going to happen… if indeed it ever does.”
You sound like Mr E with that comment!
Would not David Ward’s biggest hurdle be that he would be perceived by the non-anglophone world, as yet another English speaking candidate. “Whereas Jean Todt may be not be perfect, at least he is not English,” might be the view a lot of delegates could take.
Wilson
Perhaps.
But another English candidate would only even the score with the French! Remember that before Max was Jean Marie Ballestre, who made up rules on the spot and whose word was law, he thought.
So Ward could restore the balance.
having memories of the past of the FIA when the french bias was all too evident I have been all too aware of the appointment of a director of medical services without motor racing experience , the ejection of gary harstein and the moves to get michelin appointed as F1 tyre supplier [ if what I read is correct ]
maybe m. Todt’s single term is enough …mr ward’s background sounds promising to me !
Pardon me for going a little off topic but bear with me.
Ward was an adviser to John Smith. For those under the age of 30 John Smith was a strange man, a politician of utter integrity who died tragically at a young age despite the best efforts of the extraordinary staff of St Bartolomew’s hospital, which sits a fee minutes walk from where I am standing and which was AR the time threatened with closure to make way for a development of flats.
Smith. His place was taken by Tony Blair. I sincerely believe the world would be a very different place if he had lived. Tattered flags , parallel universes, call it what you will. But it is true. How very sad.
Yes indeed had John Smith lived we could be in a different world. Perhaps even one in which we still had control of our own country.
He would never have been elected
He’s “Mosley’s Man” until proven otherwise. Which means he’s also “Bernie’s Man” until proven otherwise.
Not necessarily the truth, but certainly the perception.
His candidacy reminds me of nothing so much as Vladimir Putin’s last batch of rivals. Approved candidates with no chance of victory, but adequate to present the appearance of democracy.
Todt was Mosley’s man…
I beg your pardon?…. What?!!! So you say that….he…not the other one…but….then….I thought that…. Hum……Never mind……I think I will call it a day…at least for today…..
See my reply to Richard
Roll on GP1! Maybe without FIA sanction…. or do they need it?
It is not going to happen.
After reading all the above comments, I’m surprised at Todt’s unpopularity. It reminds me of the expression “be careful what you wish for”. Most people thought Max spent way too much time on F1, especially since he had campaigned on letting F1 take care of itself, and now Todt is unpopular because he’s not involved enough in the world of F1. Always interesting.
In all of this, I find most interesting the part about Bernie losing his 100 year deal, what a game changer that would be.
The problem for Mr Ward is that Mr Todt has not done a bad job!
If you ignore F1 Todt has done the right things for motorsport, sports cars, rallying, electric etc. Now he just has to stepup to F1
There are some who disagree with that view, arguing that he has been too cautious. However in general I don’t disagree.
Joe, what do you actually think of a post-Ecclestone F1…there may be a lot of people thinking/shouting that it would be terrible and that Ecclestone was the one keeping it all together. But we’re a far cry away from the F1 one that Ecclestone ‘took over’, the sport is already much more professional. I know a lot of that is thanks to mr. E. But it doesn’t mean others can’t look after it. There are other succesfull racing series with less appeal than F1 (although that last bit can be just my opinion). I for one would hope that new management would think a bit more about the sports image than just dollars on their bank accounts. So hopefully it would make the sport more affordable for fans and put less financial strain on venues like Spa, the Nurburgring or Interlagos.
I think mr. E’s machiavellianism breeds more of the same and thus keep’s pitting the teams against each other. Of course they are going along with the games. But if F1 leadership would change it’s style to one more of coöperation and leaving enough on the table for all party’s concerned. Then I think it wouldn’t be such a bad thing.
My sources at the FIA tell me it’s unlikely that David Ward would get elected considering he has very little to do with the sporting side of the FIA. The sporting side is a very core part of the FIA and thus Mr Ward may not get the votes or support he needs.
I am sorry to say that you are being led astray by your sources at the FIA. If you look at the FIA website you can see very quickly that the federation consists of 94 purely mobility clubs, 84 purely sporting clubs and 52 clubs that that deal with both. Thus, one can extrapolate that to mean that 146 clubs are concerned with mobility and 136 are concerned with the sport. Neither activity is the core of the federation. There are two cores, hence there are two World Councils. Secondly, you need to understand just how much of a role David Ward has played in the sporting side of the FIA over the years, largely with a low profile. I am a purely sporting journalist But I have known David since 1988. I have known Jean about the same length of time. David has played a very important role in mobility as well, notably with the crash test and road safety programmes. Jean Todt is a relative newcomer to mobility, but he has worked hard to get to know that side, because he was only involved in the sporting side prior to his election, four years ago. I think both men have good qualifications for the job and I am interested to see the discussions that result if David does indeed decide to stand.