Your View: The meaning of Todt election — Schumi as F1 chief?

There seem to be three main storylines following Jean Todt’s election on Friday as the new FIA president.

1. When does he start? For the life of me, I cannot find a definitive statement on this front. A few stories have led me to believe it is sooner than later. Has anyone seen anything hard and fast?

2. Is Michael Schumacher really in line to be the new commissioner for Formula 1? The Times reports this:

Todt’s elevation was followed by immediate speculation that he may ask Michael Schumacher, the seven-times world champion, to play a management role in Formula One, though informed sources were playing down speculation that the German legend could act as Todt’s first commissioner for the sport.

And Autosport puts its this way: “Speaking about Schumacher, he said: ‘He is like a son. There has always been a place for him next to me and there will still be.’”

3. The big one: How much will Todt be his own man?

This, of course, was central to the campaign between Todt and Ari Vatanen. Vatanen, who emphasized he was the true “change” candidate, hammered on Todt’s close relationship to out-going president Max Mosley and the rest of the current FIA leadership. He kept that line up going on Friday, according to the BBC:

“I really doubt he will be able to give a new start to the FIA, but let’s hope I’m wrong,” Vatanen said.

“Jean Todt has a lot of qualities but, if he wants to leave his footprints on the FIA, he has got to renew it.

“And if he doesn’t get rid of the ancient guard and all the people who worked with Mosley, he won’t succeed.”

And Vatanen wasn’t alone in showing skepticism [again from the BBC]:

Former world champion Damon Hill says it is important that Todt distances himself from the previous regime of Mosley and look instead to the future.

“It would good for him to put the past administration behind him and to separate himself from that and do it the way he would like to do it,” Hill told BBC Sport.

“It would be good for him to make clear what the FIA stands for in terms of sport and also what his ambitions are.

“I know from his campaign he wants to separate the judging process from the FIA and also to have a separate body that runs F1. I think those are good things to start with.”

The worry boils down to this, again from the BBC:

Ill-feeling and suspicion remain and the F1 teams are concerned that the election of Todt, who Mosley has publicly backed as his successor, would effectively be a continuation of the Mosley era.

That belief is enhanced because Mosley, as an ex-president, will retain a seat on the FIA Senate, the powers of which Todt wants to extend.

I certainly don’t like the sound of that.

What about you?

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