30/06/2015
NEWS STORY
Having appeared to go MIA, suddenly Jean Todt is back in the news and eager to demonstrate that as FIA president, he is still a very significant power in the sport, his hands tightly gripping the tiller.
As the sport has declined, a view shared by many… in the stands, on couches and within the paddock, he has remained silent, virtually unseen.
Then, ahead of the final round of an FIA series that ticks so many right-on boxes, he appears to tell us that F1 is not in crisis, that it is merely suffering a "headache", that the illness, such as it is, is not terminal.
Furthermore, as Renault ponders its future (or lack of it) in F1, admitting that the future of the sport's governance is an issue - a claim that will be squarely aimed in the direction of Mr B C Ecclestone - and Michelin (another French company) noisily rattles its sabre as it ponders a return to the sport, Mr Todt issues his own thoughts on how F1 might be improved. And what an idea it is...
"Maybe we should decide that rather than the race at 1pm or 2pm in Europe during the summer, if you ask my opinion, I would prefer to have it at 6pm in the evening," he said, according to the Guardian. "That way people can then go to the beach, arrive home and see it."
It's a suggestion that is entirely unworkable, ludicrous even, but that is the intention.
For then he turns his sights on Ecclestone himself.
First he takes issue with Ecclestone's long-running complaints regarding the new (for 2014) formula.
"If he has some complaints, which may be right, it's something we should address internally and not make it public," says Todt. "All the credit and money he has got, he deserves it, but I would hope he will be more positive about the product."
Then he makes the attack a little more personal.
"I know Bernie very well. I know he may tell you I am his best friend then five minutes later to somebody else I am the worst idiot he has met in his life. I live with that.
"The only thing is, I will not get into that. It just creates unnecessary gossip. I don't have any problems with him getting more involved, as he has to if it is bringing something on board.
"If it is not constructive, you should not do it. But it is his style. Do I intend to change him? I don't intend to change him."
It is no secret that Todt has political ambitions well beyond F1 and sport, furthermore, he is aware that Formula One has suffered on his watch.
The criticism of Ecclestone is clearly to impress others, while the suggestion of evening races is simply to annoy him, the Frenchman knowing such decisions are almost entirely down to the so-called F1 supremo.
And all this at a time when potential purchasers of the sport are emerging, almost on a daily basis.
Are we to believe that Mr Todt's new found voice, and such a critical voice, is coincidental?
Smoke and mirrors, as they say, smoke and mirrors.