The thoughts of President Todt

[ArrowsFA1]

On Ferrari's use of team orders in Germany:
"...a provocation against the regulations."
On modifying the team orders rule:
"Lies, or coded messages such as 'save fuel', will not be tolerated."
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/88393

On the lack of overtaking:
"From now on, before homologating a circuit, we'll evaluate its spectacle potential, besides its safety."
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/88389

All in all, not a bad first year for the new FIA President, and that's not something I thought I'd be saying when he was elected :up:

[Retro Formula 1]

I had reservations about Jean as well but they have so far proved to be unfounded.

Not too sure if he is on the right lines with the team order bit but lets give him a chance to make it work.

Rest of it looks OK.

[F1boat]

He is a good president. But Bernie is still a problem.

[AndyRAC]

He is a good president. But Bernie is still a problem.

Exactly...!! Far too much power for a Promoter.....

[ryan92]

I prefer Todt to Mosley, Mosley IMO focused too much on cost cutting, but forgot about actually trying to improve certain aspects of the show. Plus Mosley seemed to forget about the WRC and WTCC...

[Sonic]

Who? He's been invisible from my POV.

[Retro Formula 1]

Who? He's been invisible from my POV.

Just the way he should be. The show is about F1, not the man behind the organisations that publishes the rules. Talk about the tail wagging the dog.

Todt has stedied the ship and done a good job from what I can see.

[Valve Bounce]

Who? He's been invisible from my POV.

Yeah!! I agree!! let's get the whip out and give him a few whacks for starters. :eek:

[Sonic]

Yeah!! I agree!! let's get the whip out and give him a few whacks for starters. :eek:

Lol. It would certainly liven up the next 16 weeks.

[Sleeper]

That second quote really makes me laugh, I'd love to see how he intends to prove a coded message is just that.

[555-04Q2]

Who? He's been invisible from my POV.

Thats right. He's been doing his job, unlike Mad Max who had to make headlines 10 million times a day.

Good workers get on with the job, crappy ones try to look busy.

[N4D13]

That second quote really makes me laugh, I'd love to see how he intends to prove a coded message is just that.
:) :up:

[wedge]

Regarding team orders Todt is more stupider than I thought.

[truefan72]

Just the way he should be. The show is about F1, not the man behind the organisations that publishes the rules. Talk about the tail wagging the dog.

Todt has stedied the ship and done a good job from what I can see.

I agree, except he messed up the whole 13th entry thing. first they did not manage the USF1 thing in time, 2nd they could not adequately form a replacement contingency to place another team on the grid. Then they botched the process for adding a team on the grid for 2011. and I'm not sure why the process for a 2012 grid slot is not on the way/awarded already. I also feel they could have come down on Ferrari harder on hockenheim but he punted.

All in all a solid first year though and hugely welcomed change to Max Mosley.

[Big Ben]

I agree, except he messed up the whole 13th entry thing. first they did not manage the USF1 thing in time, 2nd they could not adequately form a replacement contingency to place another team on the grid. Then they botched the process for adding a team on the grid for 2011. and I'm not sure why the process for a 2012 grid slot is not on the way/awarded already. I also feel they could have come down on Ferrari harder on hockenheim but he punted.

All in all a solid first year though and hugely welcomed change to Max Mosley.

It's probably because the new team should have won at least one wcc in the last 5 years... :laugh:

[UltimateDanGTR]

It's nice to have an FIA president who isn't always making a fool of himself. well done Jean in that sense.

getting the french gp back and improving the WTCC are still on his to do list but I have faith in him.

[MrMetro]

All in all a solid first year though and hugely welcomed change to Max Mosley.


Indeed

[ShiftingGears]

I'm not really sure what he's actually changed, to be honest.

If evaluating spectacle potential means getting rid of circuits like Singapore and Valencia and Abu Dhabi, I'll be impressed. Otherwise I don't see it changing much. I don't see the team orders ban very purposeful either.

[ioan]

He is a good president.

If doing nothing makes him good, than maybe.


But Bernie is still a problem.

:up: Agreed! Or maybe I should say 'A greedy'?!

[yodasarmpit]

The fact that no one is talking about El Presidente does tend to suggest he's not doing a bad job, however it does not always equate to doing a good job. Let's see how things evolve over the next year and make a more informed decission.

[N4D13]

I'm not really sure what he's actually changed, to be honest.

If evaluating spectacle potential means getting rid of circuits like Singapore and Valencia and Abu Dhabi, I'll be impressed. Otherwise I don't see it changing much. I don't see the team orders ban very purposeful either.
I'd keep Singapore -quite frankly, I'd rather remove Monaco, although many would jump at me for wanting to remove such an historic circuit-. But Valencia needs to go, and unless they can fix their overtaking problems, Abu Dhabi and Bahrain should leave as well.

[Big Ben]

So what he said about team orders means that the bans stays in place but somehow they will translate coded messages? Now that will clarify things :rolleyes:

[truefan72]

It's probably because the new team should have won at least one wcc in the last 5 years... :laugh:

dude, you lost me :\

[Roamy]

Simple - He is a fag frog in way over his head and should be deported to the Falkland Islands !! Am I clear on this???

[Duchess]

Simple - He is a fag frog in way over his head and should be deported to the Falkland Islands !! Am I clear on this???

...you're as clear as bong smoke tbh mate... :confused:

[555-04Q2]

Simple - He is a fag frog in way over his head and should be deported to the Falkland Islands !! Am I clear on this???

You forget to take your pills fousto :?:

[ioan]

You forget to take your pills fousto :?:

He's been doing it continuously for some time, let's hope that Obama's health care plans will be put in place soon enough! ;)

[V12]

Well definitely an improvement on Mosley, not banging on about cost cutting every 5 seconds like it's going out of fashion has been a breath of fresh air.

I agree that like a good football referee, the less you notice him, the better he's doing. Just because he's not in the news 24/7 doesn't mean he's not busy behind the scenes.

The whole 13th team has been a complete balls-up though I agree, so there's still room for improvement. I wonder how much influence Bernie had in that though, he seems to have gone back to the old boring quality over quantity mantra, he seems to think of the new teams only Lotus actually deserve their place on the grid.

Wasn't impressed with the swapping of one control tyre for another either, when Bridgestone's withdrawal represented an excellent opportunity to rectify that particular mistake. Although a lot of the teams seemed to be having a say in that too, and it's not like the control tyre was introduced under his presidency either.

Whoever was responsible for the awkward movable rear wing system for next year needs to be held to account too.

Still, for those three negatives, they are still nothing compared to some of Mosley's epic brain fails of the past decade (spec engines, "Formula 2", drivers rotating through teams, etc.)

[wedge]

Todt really needs to sort out F3.

That should have been the top of his 'to do' list. It's been in crisis for over a year or so now. It shouldn't be left to the organisers because most appear clueless, it should be top-down.

[V12]

Todt really needs to sort out F3.

That should have been the top of his 'to do' list. It's been in crisis for over a year or so now. It shouldn't be left to the organisers because most appear clueless, it should be top-down.

In fairness it has looked like the FIA is looking at plans to sort out F3 in recent weeks. However IMO F3's big problem is fact that the tier above it is dominated by GP2. And the best preparation for a GP2 drive is a GP3 drive.

In an ideal world GP2 and Palmer's F2 would be amalgamated. Then destroyed. Then resurrected as a sort of F3-plus under the F2 name. It doesn't have to be an arms race but a sensibly policed open formula with less freedom than F1 but more freedom than F3 would provide a more logical bridge between F3 and F1.