The FIA Senate has increased its membership to 16, in accordance with the new FIA Statutes, which give the FIA President the power to nominate four candidates. This means that there are now eight elected members, four members by right (included on the President’s election ticket) and four presidential appointees. Todt had chosen Gerardo Braggiotti, an Italian banker; a French lawyer Jean-Michel Darrois; the former French Prime Minister François Fillon and Sir Lindsay Owen-Jones, the former chairman and CEO of L’Oréal, for “their independence and expertise”.
The Senate is responsible for decisions relating to the management and general policy of the FIA, in particular its financial, budgetary and commercial matters.
The Senate President has the casting vote which means the eight elected members can always be outvoted by those nominated by the FIA President.
joeblogsf1 
Will they interfere with Formula One?
Joe
So who is the senate president?
Martin
Nick Craw
wow, i saw his post on a previous entry!
Nice to see Jean Todt carrying on the noble tradition of democratic accountability in sporting bodies. Has anything good come out of the FIA in the past few months Joe?
A few people
Where’d they go too?
Joe, I believe Oreal and Fillon are connected through Sarkozy. Do you think that is there a reason why they come aboard at the same time?
Todt and Sarkozy have many links
.. However Fillon is not what I would call a friend of Sarkozy…And Fillon is a petrolhead
Click to access 201307_Histoires-Fillon.pdf
If I’m not mistaken, Owen-Jones used to campaign a McLaren F1 in the old BPR Global GT series.
On a weird, somewhat F1-related note, Sarkozy celebrated Didier Pironi’s first marriage in 1982. The future Président was then the mayor of Neuilly-sur-Seine,
Nope Sarkory became mayor in ’83, but you don’t have to be mayor to marry people 😉
Whatever the nuances of the internal politics, you can be sure it serves something; for a some one or a small group.
Never quite sure if I enjoy this aspect or not?
Seems all very underwhelming at a glance. Hope it’s Todt’s way of setting out the deck chairs in anticipation of changes to be driven by a negative for Bernie result, from the German matter when finally heard.
Maybe they are there to help with the takeover of F1 after the German court case ?
Owen Jones raced a Mclaren F1 at the Le Mans 24 hr race. Sponsored by Gulf. Did very well too if I recall. I was running the hospitality for Gulf at the time.
He is also President of the World Endurance Commission and a member of the board of directors of Ferrari SpA. Worth noting also that Fillon is brother of Pierre Fillon, the President of the Automobile Club de l’Ouest.
… Mr Owen Jones has left the Board (24mar2014)
http://auto.ferrari.com/en_EN/news-events/news/ferrari-assembly-ok-record-results-chairman-ceo-confirmed/
I did not know that.
Would be nice if this board was made up of retired motor racing people, or those with no current axe to grind, like Barnard, Murray, Gurney, Andretti, and many others I could think of. At least then they would have a clue what the sport is about and why the history of it matters. As it is, Politicians, Bankers, Solicitors…..Ye Gods!! A curse on them all!
Damian, The FIA is not a motor racing only organisation, the Senate main role within the FIA is not about motor racing see Article 17 in FIA Statutes.
The people you are talking about would be good to have in the WMSC…I think…
The FIA’s revenues are fundamentally driven by F1 and so it must be seen as the federation’s primary activity. It might like to think it is is a big cheese in road safety and so on, but it is not. If you don’t believe me, look at the UN road safety initiative and try to find reference to the FIA. The Foundation perhaps but the FIA itself, forget it.
Hi Joe, of course I do believe you! But is it a reason to hire accountants that were ex-F1 drivers? I only meant the Senate is not a place where racers are required more than accountants or lawyers, as opposed the WMSC and various other Commissions where their experience and expertise would be more than welcomed.
It is just a way to make sure that the FIA President can do what he likes with the money, but if he starts buying tanks the Senate can stop him.
As Gary Hartstein recently said;
“Jean, you can give your mates titles, but that doesn’t mean you’ve made them competent.”
I take it you’ve met Gary, Joe?
Well stated Gary!
A spin on the ‘you can’t fix stupid’ that crops up too frequently in F1.
Whatever Ago, they are truly a waste of space, not any better than the previous CSI ( if I remember the acronym properly ).
Well… we have a saying in France “Qui veut noyer son chien l’accuse de la rage” (give a dog a bad name and hang him)…
I am always amazed by the heavy criticism of the FIA as in fact I believe the problem are the people not the structure. I always hope that one day Joe will write something about this…
To me the FIA looks like a very decent structure, very democratic (looking at the statutes), very well thought by clever people the abuses coming from (some of) the people inside… But at the end of the day we are those who make this happen..
In short any single member of any single club belonging to the FIA (namely in the UK: MSA, RAC, AA, EURORAP, IRAP, CC; IAM, CCC) is responsible for what is happening because the FIA is made of these people !!!!
I am largely in agreement with this and I have long been a supporter of the FIA, in principle. I believe that it has got better over the years in terms of structure but each president finds ways to get a little bit more control. It is basic politics. I did not like what I saw in the election campaign of candidates being unable to stand because the system tied them in knots. That is not right. However the basis is there and so its effectiveness is down to the people involved. The level of competence from one club to the next is anything but standard. There are attempts going on to improve that. However you cannot escape the fact that automobile club people are clubmen and they often are simply playing politics and power games. I don’t think enough of them truly care about the sport. Obviously some do (fervently) but I also think a lot of them like the titles and perks but don’t care much beyond that. I also think that the secretariat has long needed changing. JT is doing that slowly but it is very hard to fire people in France. Having said that I do not think it is wise to have too many French political folk filling the jobs. The fonctionnaire attitude is unhealthy and very insular. I think the more international the organisation, the more effective it will be.