It has not been a good couple of weeks for FIA President Jean Todt. The cracks within the decision-making process regarding Formula 1 have very much turned into severe fractures, and very publicly as well. Now into the seventh year of Todt’s term as the president of the governing body of not just F1, but such a wide range of motorsports in general, his impact on the sporting and motoring world has been arguably lukewarm at best.
Whilst his predecessor, Max Mosely, was controversial to say the least, it cannot be denied that he got things done – albeit whether those things were necessarily the right things or not comes down to interpretation and opinion. However, given uncertainty surrounding many of the FIA-sanctioned series at the moment, and the apparent stubbornness to get things right in F1, should Jean Todt stand for re-election in 2017, or would he simply be blown away by other candidates?
Todt has been incredibly successful in the past, and his ability to put people in the right places at the right time – a skill he showed at Ferrari where the team took 11 out of a possible 12 titles between 1999 and 2004, is undeniable. However, this approach has been mixed during his time as FIA president, and when he does try to step in himself, the results rarely look good. It almost seems as if his priorities lie elsewhere – such as with his road safety campaign.
So really, how Todt has performed so far really comes down to personal opinion. From the revival of the World Sportscar Championship (now the World Endurance Championship), to the birth of the innovative Formula E Championship to the very public troubles facing Formula 1 and the not-so-public troubles facing the World Touring Car Championship and the World Rally Championship, Todt has overseen a lot of changes within the sport during his time as president.
However, what state are these series in now compared to 2009? Has Todt done more harm than good overall? What does the future hold for each of these series, whether it is Todt or someone else at the head of everything? If it is not Todt at the top, then who will it be? Ross Brawn? Alex Wurz? Or perhaps it will be someone else.
Formula 1 World Championship
Formula 1 is in a woeful state right now. The decision-making process within the sport has caused more problems than it is solving – especially regarding Saturdays, and Todt has done absolutely nothing to help matters by initially refusing to revert to what we had in 2015, despite calls from fans, teams and drivers to do so.
It is clear that Todt and Bernie Ecclestone have rarely got on, and it seems to translate into F1. And F1 being so sick in the way it is right now: prize money being distributed unfairly; the sport swiftly moving to pay TV which instantly results in fewer views; teams on the brink of destruction if they have not reached that stage already; mindless gimmicks such as: DRS, double points, broken qualifying systems ruining the one thing which was not broken, chewing gum tyres and expensive technology which is already outdated; so much uncertainty over the 2017 rules which are heading down the wrong path; soulless tracks and venues and still so much money being spent seemingly for the sake of spending money.
All of this has not been adhered to in the right manner, and a lack of direction or action (depending on the topic), let alone correct direction or action has seemingly screwed the sport up quite possibly to a point beyond that of no return, and this benefits absolutely nobody from a racing perspective.
However, the FIA has done a great job with safety, and has the right mentality regarding head protection, even if they aren’t necessarily going the right way about it, and if the report into the unfortunate death of Jules Bianchi was a bit distasteful.
World Endurance Championship
Arguably the series which has undergone the most amount of change between 2009 and now is the World Endurance Championship and sportscar racing in general. The main endurance series came about in 2012 and it has swiftly risen to a state where the top cars are simply incredible, and the racing elsewhere is not to be sneered at either. The FIA along with the ACO have done a phenomenal job here, along with interacting with IMSA regarding endurance racing in the United States, which is also doing really well right now.
However not everything is perfect – the privateer subclass within LMP1 is constantly plagued with a lack of entries and a lack of competitiveness, and some question whether the restrictions being imposed on LMP2 and LMP3 cars for 2017 are really necessary, balance of performance is always a touchy subject and some have questioned the penalty system.
However, GT classes are generally doing very well at the moment, despite the lack of entries within the World Championship as well as the European Le Mans Series for 2016. Generally though, sportscar racing is well and truly in a golden era right now, and that is despite potentially losing both Audi and Porsche entirely from the WEC after the Volkswagen emissions scandal.
World Touring Car Championship
The WTCC is another series which is not doing particularly well at the moment. Numbers have clearly dropped, and whilst new venues have been explored, the prestigious Macau round is no longer present – the FIA GT World Cup now taking place at the famous Guia circuit instead. Worryingly, even two consecutive seasons of absolute dominance has seen Citroen decide to pull its factory effort from the sport ahead of the 2016 season. Also as shown in the WTCC, dodgy qualifying formats are not limited to F1.
World Rally Championship
The World Rally Championship has faced sheer domination from Sebastien Loeb and Citroen in recent years, and interest appears to have dropped a bit despite high-profile switches from Kimi Raikkonen and Robert Kubica. Despite neither Loeb nor Citroen participating in 2016, the current domination by Volkswagen’s Sebastien Ogier seems to have resulted in a bit of déjà vu. However, new technical regulations (which Citroen are preparing for) in 2017 could shake things up a bit. The series is perhaps not going through its brightest spell, but there is still interest and potential within the series.
Formula E Championship
An entirely new series is always going to be met with criticism, and Formula E has been no exception. An all-electric series with features such as voting to give a driver an extra boost and second cars will absolutely draw plenty of criticism. But the job Alejandro Agag and his people have done (all under the FIA banner, and Todt has had significant input in all this) has been absolutely phenomenal.
To bring a brand new series to so many major cities around the globe and to spark interest from so many others is beyond what anybody could have expected from Formula E. This formula is still in its infancy, and whilst the racing is not as completely bonkers as it was in season one at the moment, it is still exciting nonetheless.
The rate of development in the series will be interesting to see over the next few years, as that is the main objective of Formula E after all. It cannot be ignored that there are clearly areas where things could be handled better, such as penalties. It is still too early to consider Formula E a complete success.
World Rallycross Championship
The World Rallycross Championship is another new series which has done relatively well. It has not been met with the sort of reception as Formula E has, but the series is exciting, employs all of the innovative racing methods which is synonymous with rallycross and has a strong fanbase. There is every chance that this series could well have a strong future.
Elsewhere
It would appear that the area where Todt has had more of a positive impact is oddly enough outside of motor racing. A clear advocate of the FIA Road Safety Programme, it would appear that this is where much of Todt’s time and effort is being spent, however possibly at the cost of keeping an eye off the ball in certain racing series. Sure, the FIA does have a significant impact in both full-on motor racing activities and in everyday life on the road, but an organisation with such significance must ensure that both sides are healthy, and an unhealthy F1 is not good for motor racing in general.
It’s time for Todt to go. He’s had a solid run in office, but the recent events make some feel that some flesh blood is required at the next available opportunity, and the likes of Brawn or more realistically Wurz would be fitting candidates to fill such a role.
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