Max Mosley to retire
Discussion
Autosport said:
FIA president Max Mosley has confirmed that he will definitely not stand again in October's election and has endorsed Jean Todt as his preferred candidate.
In a letter sent to all FIA member clubs today, Mosley said that despite pressure from members to restand, he had decided to go through with his decision to step down.
He says that with hard work expecting to result in a new Concorde Agreement being signed to secure F1's future in the next few days, plus other progress in rallying and sportscars, there was little reason for him to go back on his original intention to relinquish the role.
"From a personal point of view, it would be very difficult for me to change my mind and stand again," wrote Mosley in the letter.
"I began some months ago to rearrange my family life with effect from next October. I also informed senior FIA staff that I would not be a candidate. To continue now would greatly complicate my domestic arrangement and be inconsistent with my obligations to my family, particularly after our recent loss. Also, I have felt for some time that I would like to work less. After all, I will be 70 next year.
"Therefore, with these new arrangements in place, extremely grateful though I am for all the letters, emails and messages I have received, I have decided to reconfirm my decision. I will not be a candidate in October."
With former World Rally champion Ari Vatanen having put himself forward for the FIA presidency role, Mosley has ended years of speculation about the man he would like to see replace him and backed former Ferrari team principal Jean Todt for the role.
"I believe the right person to head that team would be Jean Todt," said Mosley about the need for a 'strong, experienced and competent' group of people to lead the FIA in the future.
"Jean is unquestionably the outstanding motorsport manager of his generation and arguably of any generation.
"If he agrees to stand, I think he would be the ideal person to continue but also to extend the work of the past 16 years. He can be relied on in all areas where the FIA is active. I very much hope you will give him your support."
All the emails and messages? I wonder if he got mine?In a letter sent to all FIA member clubs today, Mosley said that despite pressure from members to restand, he had decided to go through with his decision to step down.
He says that with hard work expecting to result in a new Concorde Agreement being signed to secure F1's future in the next few days, plus other progress in rallying and sportscars, there was little reason for him to go back on his original intention to relinquish the role.
"From a personal point of view, it would be very difficult for me to change my mind and stand again," wrote Mosley in the letter.
"I began some months ago to rearrange my family life with effect from next October. I also informed senior FIA staff that I would not be a candidate. To continue now would greatly complicate my domestic arrangement and be inconsistent with my obligations to my family, particularly after our recent loss. Also, I have felt for some time that I would like to work less. After all, I will be 70 next year.
"Therefore, with these new arrangements in place, extremely grateful though I am for all the letters, emails and messages I have received, I have decided to reconfirm my decision. I will not be a candidate in October."
With former World Rally champion Ari Vatanen having put himself forward for the FIA presidency role, Mosley has ended years of speculation about the man he would like to see replace him and backed former Ferrari team principal Jean Todt for the role.
"I believe the right person to head that team would be Jean Todt," said Mosley about the need for a 'strong, experienced and competent' group of people to lead the FIA in the future.
"Jean is unquestionably the outstanding motorsport manager of his generation and arguably of any generation.
"If he agrees to stand, I think he would be the ideal person to continue but also to extend the work of the past 16 years. He can be relied on in all areas where the FIA is active. I very much hope you will give him your support."
A ringing endorsement for Napoleon:
"If he agrees to stand, I think he would be the ideal person to continue but also to extend the work of the past 16 years. He can be relied on in all areas where the FIA is active. I very much hope you will give him your support."
I assume this means duplicitous agreements, selling the sport down the river, grandstanding for no other reason than to sate the leader’s ego...
It will be interesting to see the reaction of those teams that aligned themselves (perhaps not out of choice) with the FIA and MAx over the last few months. This is what Patrick Head had to say about Todt about a year ago just after Max's vote of confidence:
""Patrick Head, co-owner of the Williams team, says he would rather have the scandal-ridden Max Mosley as FIA president than Jean Todt.
Amid the ruckus about Mosley’s caper with five role-playing prostitutes, Todt – the former Ferrari team boss – was slated as the most likely candidate should the FIA need to fill the role.
Ultimately, Mosley survived the scandal, apparently to the quiet relief of Head and fellow team stalwart Sir Frank Williams.
“Our view is that Max, sometimes with our resistance, has done a number of things in recent years which have been good for this company,” he told The Independent.
“It is not in our interests to undermine Max, especially in the light of threats of him being replaced by Jean Todt.”
Head does not believe Todt, the diminutive Frenchman, is suited to running the governing body of world motoring and racing.
“We have been to many meetings at which (Todt) has been present representing the interests of Ferrari 100 per cent. He is confrontational, argumentative, and not impartial, everything that the president of the FIA should not be,” he charged.""
Certainly, connecting the two, I imagine Vatanen has been heavily lobbied by the whole of F1 over the last few months. I wonder if during the FOTA/FIA/CVC meetings over the last couple of months they have tried to get Max to sign up to not endorse Todt as well as promising to stand down?
I predict that contrary to popular belief, the signing of the Concord Agreement will only provide temporary relief. Once the primaries get underway in probably about a months time it will all get very acrimonious again between the teams, Mosley and his favourite son. Only this time the teams might all be on the same side.
"If he agrees to stand, I think he would be the ideal person to continue but also to extend the work of the past 16 years. He can be relied on in all areas where the FIA is active. I very much hope you will give him your support."
I assume this means duplicitous agreements, selling the sport down the river, grandstanding for no other reason than to sate the leader’s ego...
It will be interesting to see the reaction of those teams that aligned themselves (perhaps not out of choice) with the FIA and MAx over the last few months. This is what Patrick Head had to say about Todt about a year ago just after Max's vote of confidence:
""Patrick Head, co-owner of the Williams team, says he would rather have the scandal-ridden Max Mosley as FIA president than Jean Todt.
Amid the ruckus about Mosley’s caper with five role-playing prostitutes, Todt – the former Ferrari team boss – was slated as the most likely candidate should the FIA need to fill the role.
Ultimately, Mosley survived the scandal, apparently to the quiet relief of Head and fellow team stalwart Sir Frank Williams.
“Our view is that Max, sometimes with our resistance, has done a number of things in recent years which have been good for this company,” he told The Independent.
“It is not in our interests to undermine Max, especially in the light of threats of him being replaced by Jean Todt.”
Head does not believe Todt, the diminutive Frenchman, is suited to running the governing body of world motoring and racing.
“We have been to many meetings at which (Todt) has been present representing the interests of Ferrari 100 per cent. He is confrontational, argumentative, and not impartial, everything that the president of the FIA should not be,” he charged.""
Certainly, connecting the two, I imagine Vatanen has been heavily lobbied by the whole of F1 over the last few months. I wonder if during the FOTA/FIA/CVC meetings over the last couple of months they have tried to get Max to sign up to not endorse Todt as well as promising to stand down?
I predict that contrary to popular belief, the signing of the Concord Agreement will only provide temporary relief. Once the primaries get underway in probably about a months time it will all get very acrimonious again between the teams, Mosley and his favourite son. Only this time the teams might all be on the same side.
Autosport said:
"I believe the right person to head that team would be Jean Todt. I think he would be the ideal person to continue but also to extend the work of the past 16 years. He can be relied on in all areas where the FIA is active."
And this from Patrick Head:“We have been to many meetings at which (Todt) has been present representing the interests of Ferrari 100 per cent. He is confrontational, argumentative, and not impartial, everything that the president of the FIA should not be."
I can't fault Mosley's logic.
TVR Moneypit said:
Derek Smith said:
Autosport said:
"I believe the right person to head that team would be Jean Todt. I think he would be the ideal person to continue but also to extend the work of the past 16 years. He can be relied on in all areas where the FIA is active."
And this from Patrick Head:“We have been to many meetings at which (Todt) has been present representing the interests of Ferrari 100 per cent. He is confrontational, argumentative, and not impartial, everything that the president of the FIA should not be."
I can't fault Mosley's logic.
Vaat was rather engimatic when he was interviewd by the BBC about the backing he had. You or I might be concerned with regards the voting system which is heavily weighted in favour of Tdt, now he's the designated Mosley little me. All Ari said was that there was no real concern about that. Interesting.
Todt would be a disaster for all concerned.
It is interesting that there have been no comments from FOTA, at least none that I could find. It is almost as if they are sayin: Yeah, well, we'll let you know when we can be bothered to look at it.
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