Why the FIA election battle matters for fans

The FIA presidential election fight may not be the kind of contest that leaves fans clamouring for the remote control, but the outcome of the contest is equally as important as anything that Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso do on track.

Ahead of what looks set to be an intriguing contest between incumbent Jean Todt and only rival (so far) David Ward, what is fast becoming clear is that the very future of motor racing's governing body is at stake.

Rather than a simple battle of personalities between the two contenders, arguments are more focused on how the FIA moves forward as an organisation - and whether or not the time has come for major reform.

It is something that Ward himself believes will have an impact on every follower of the sport.

GOOD GOVERNANCE CREATES GOOD RACING

When Ward officially entered the presidential contest, he showed from the start how strongly he felt about the governance issues.

He has regularly vented his anger about Todt's use of pre-election support letters, and duly lodged a complaint about them with the FIA Ethics Committee that will be subject to a hearing soon. His agenda also made clear his dismay at the election process itself.

Ward has lodged a complaint about Todt's pre-election support letters © XPB

Such arguing over support letters may seem a world away from the race track, but Ward says you cannot separate what takes place out on the circuit from what goes on in the corridors of power at the FIA.

"I am an AUTOSPORT reader and even a modest writer for AUTOSPORT [he once reported on a club racing event]," explains Ward. "I can completely understand that this is a turn off and what we want to talk about is racing.

"But actually if the governance is wrong then the politics, which people don't like, spill over into motorsport and that affects the things we really like. That is why we really have to get this right."

Ward has already laid out his plans in his manifesto, which includes a proposal for the FIA president to become non-executive if he chooses. He wants the appointment of a paid chief executive to take care of day-to-day duties, as well as a proper management board.

He thinks the role of the FIA president is now far too large to be conducted effectively by one individual.

"Max [Mosley] was criticised sometimes for being too involved in F1 and not involved in other things, whereas Jean is being criticised the other way for being too involved in the other things," he said.

"What it shows is that it is the job structure that is wrong, not what the individuals are doing."

Ward also wants to see through the idea of FIA Commissioners being appointed for each of the major championships - an idea that was floated by Todt ahead of the last election.

"I think having more people would be better and more efficient: not having everything embodied in one superhuman figure who by law in France is unpaid," he said. "It is a crazy structure for the challenges the sport faces now."

Ward cites the success of the FIA International Tribunal hearing process that dealt with Mercedes' secret Pirelli test earlier this year as an example of how proper governance is better for everybody.

Ward says the idea of an International Tribunal was vindicated in the Mercedes secret tyre test case © LAT

Back in 2009, it was Ward who proposed the idea of an International Tribunal to Todt - who subsequently took on and implemented its introduction.

"It has been a really successful mechanism. With the case of Mercedes' semi-authorised testing, the result was an independent respected judge looked into it.

"Both sides - the FIA and Mercedes - were caught in the wrong in some respects, but everyone I have spoken to says that process was credible, trustworthy and it came out with a fair decision.

"What that shows is that if you get the governance right then the politics looks after itself and people trust the process.

"My point is that the FIA needs a complete trustworthiness overhaul, and that isn't about people. It would be a huge mistake to think after this that David Ward is a great trustworthy guy.

"The trustworthiness of the president of the FIA should not be an issue at all; it is about the trustworthiness of the institution. And that relates to its governance structures."

FROM TODT ALLY TO RIVAL

Ward was a volunteer for Todt's successful election campaign in 2009, but has been disappointed that opportunities the Frenchman had to change things for the better have not come off.

"I think he hasn't fulfilled the expectations that I had - some of them around the governance agenda," said Ward.

"I think he has gone backwards a bit on some things and not gone forwards enough in other areas - and the way he has gone backwards is particularly in relation to election processes."

Ward's chief gripes relate to the introduction of an FIA election process that requires a candidate to put forward 26 nominations from clubs, as well as appoint a cabinet. In a letter sent earlier this week he said that demand risked turning the 2013 election contest in to a 'farce'.

Allied to that, he is also furious about Todt's use of support letters ahead of the campaign formally kicking off.

Ward says he is not alone in feeling uneasy at the way Todt has run the FIA, or being unhappy about the support letter push.

Ecclestone and Todt's relationship has been strained at times © XPB

"I was in the paddock at Sao Paulo last year, and Bernie [Ecclestone] says, 'David you have to get Max back.' I just laughed and said I don't think there is the slightest chance of that.

"Then he says, 'Well, you have to do it!' Other people associated with him were also encouraging me.

"I don't take things like that very seriously because Bernie is always encouraging all sorts of mischief making. I wasn't flattered, I was amused, and didn't take it seriously.

"But what I have taken very seriously is many, many other people talking to me, key people involved in the FIA itself, key volunteers holding senior positions in the FIA, members of commissions, members of the world council, individual clubs, and competitors.

"Just about every category that you can come up with have said, 'David, you have to do something.'"

NO MAJOR PANIC ABOUT THE STATE OF F1

Ward is a lifelong F1 fan, and believes that there is actually a lot going right for the sport at the moment.

"There is a lot of self flagellation that goes on, and some people say, 'there is a crisis, it is all about to fall apart'. But if you go back to the 1960s, the 1969 French Grand Prix had 13 cars on the grid, and most of them had Ford DFV engines.

"There have been lots of crises far worse. And if you look at the overall situation there is an awful lot to be very positive about.

"The FIA, like every other stakeholder, needs to be looking at how can we make this better without doing things that are so radical that you would damage the engagement that you have with the public, which is ultimately the critical thing."

He also thinks that there is little cause for alarm over the F1's on-track show, even though he is not 100 per cent won over by the use of artificial elements like DRS.

DRS in action © LAT

"I am completely torn about things like the DRS. I can understand people who say that this is all non-purist, and interfering, but on the other hand it has produced some really interesting races.

"I am also in the middle on the whole debate about overtaking versus not-overtaking. I remember the first F1 race I went to was the Race of Champions in 1969 at Brands Hatch.

"I think there was one overtaking move in the whole race, as Jackie Stewart dominated in a Matra-Ford. I was standing on a freezing cold bank at Clearways, totally captivated and enthralled, and I don't think I noticed that there wasn't any overtaking going on.

"F1 has not needed the MotoGP-type 'everyone overtaking every lap' to maintain its fascination. If you took it in that way, artificially, I don't think it will become more popular."

THERE ARE F1 THREATS THOUGH

Ward acknowledges, however, that there are issues in F1 that do need urgent action, and he does not hold back in his belief that cost control is a priority for the long-term sustainability of F1.

"It's an absolutely key issue," he says. "Not just in F1, by the way. At all levels of the sport.

"I thought Tony Fernandes' comments in Singapore were a bit of a cri de coeur. If you cannot keep people like him motivated, you are going to be in big trouble.

"You have to have the opportunity, which was the case in Eddie Jordan's day, where a colourful amateur could get his car to the front of the grid and win. If that isn't possible and it becomes a lock down for the top three/four teams then gradually the sport will face serious problems

"I do think that Max's drive on that, which unfortunately got derailed by all the other problems he had in his final term, was a lost opportunity.

"The trouble is that sometimes the only way to get the consensus you need, because of the Concorde Agreement, is when the ones who are currently enjoying the success realise that the whole exercise is in crisis.

Fernandes said teams "screwed up" cost cuts © XPB

"But the problem is you don't want the crisis to actually happen to realise that the crisis is brewing. I think the opportunity for change will come when the dominant players realise that actually the whole thing will suffer unless they accept there has to be more discipline and more rebalancing.

"How you actually do that, because of the mechanism to deliver properly monitored cost control, is no easy matter. But in the end it depends on the consensus among the teams and all the stake holders being there.

"I am hopeful with the Concorde Agreement that the strategy group provides a forum for that to take place. If it doesn't I think we can see the risk of real problems coming."

Todt's efforts on cost control have erred towards trying to seek consensus on making changes, which has meant progress has been slow. That approach is in contrast to predecessor Max Mosley, who would - and often did - take on the teams directly. What approach would Ward take?

"I think what you need is leadership. And leadership sometimes requires all different characteristics. It requires moments where you are confrontational, or I prefer, robust.

"It also requires moments where you are very magnanimous, you apply healing balm. Max was not very good at the latter, but those are the characteristics that are needed."

And Ward believes the time has come to experiment with the introduction of a budget cap, an idea that has floated around since Mosley's era.

"The mechanism is very difficult. The trick there is how do you really audit it and control it; and how do you make sure that things are not disappearing off line? But I think a cost cap is needed and it should be given a serious go.

"That actually flows back into the whole business of trustworthiness and structures of the FIA, because the FIA has to be in some way the policeman.

"And in those circumstances the FIA has to make sure that it has a professional competent structure that can look at that sort of thing.

"But the immediate juxtaposition is that if the FIA is the body that currently cannot publish its own accounts and is totally lacking in transparency, how on earth is anyone going to say that you are the organisation that should be looking into the budgets of the teams?

"So, I keep coming back to this - it is boring but geeky - good governance will produce good racing."

A ROBIN HOOD FOR GRASSROOTS MOTORSPORT

Ward believes that a redefined FIA structure at the top can have its best influence in helping nurture the lower levels of motor racing, as well as deal with major problems in categories like the World Rally Championship.

Ward racing a Ford Escort at Brands Hatch

"The FIA has a duty to be the best regulator it can be, and in the end its claim on resources from the sport should be to fulfil that task. It is not necessary to build up billions and billions to squander on Project X.

"Having said all of that, I am all for the FIA getting the maximum resources it can get commensurate with its roles.

"One area where I think there is a big need is to invest in grass roots development of motorsport, right across the world - especially in emerging markets.

"There is a big challenge there in how do we train the basic officials to run race meetings or hillclimbs, or rallycross events, in all these emerging markets, and make sure that all the officials are doing it according to internationally applicable motorsport standards that don't damage the reputation of the sport through horrible crashes etc.

"There is a big need but a lack of investment there. I am all for getting as much money as I can from the rich part of the sport to do that; and that is very well established in sporting principles.

"The IOC has this solidarity principle where the proceeds from the most successful parts of the sport get recycled into the development, and the FIA should be playing a big role in that."

Ward is a big believer that the future success for motor racing - at all levels - is to ensure the survival of the privateer rather than pander to the needs of the manufacturers.

That is why he thinks a particular effort needs to be put in to ensuring a successful future for the WRC.

"Rallying is hugely important. It is the form of motorsport other than karting where the cost base for entry can be really low level, and almost any country in the world can do it.

"It is very important to have rallying in a healthy state and I think there is always this thing: what is the thread that links the absolute green amateur to the world championship?

"I know Jean Todt is nostalgic for the old long distance rallies, but for TV and safety reasons some of that is extremely unlikely to be feasible. But the thing I am nostalgic about is the idea that Joe Bloggs in his own RS1600 Ford Escort could be competing in a rally alongside the Roger Clarks or the Ari Vatanens, and even if they didn't have a chance, just being in the same event was a privilege and a unique thing.

Rallying is one of Ward's key concerns © LAT

"Plus every now and again, one of these guys would come third as a local hero. It seems to me that we have lost that along the way.

"I think special world rally cars that are different is too much where the manufacturers wanted to go rather than where the privateers wanted to go.

"You are going to find it very difficult to motivate Joe Bloggs if they know right from the beginning that they cannot compete.

"You cannot rely on manufacturers to give anything more than two, three, four, or five years to stay committed to anything.

"Privateers always keep showing up, and we have to nurture that."

A MOSLEY PUPPET OR BIN SULAYEM STALKING HORSE?

When Ward announced ahead of the Italian Grand Prix that he was standing for FIA president, it prompted a deluge of conspiracy theories.

The first was that Ward, as a long-time ally of Mosley, was simply the front man for a return to arms for the former FIA president.

"That is rubbish," says Ward. "I cannot deny that Max is a friend and I have worked with him on and off for 20 years. I think he did a very good job as FIA president, and I also think he had the most appalling problems to deal with at the end of his term.

"But he has moved in to a completely different period of his life where the work he is doing, taking on Rupert Murdoch and improving privacy legislation, is fantastic. I think his public reputation has been transformed because of this."

He also says that having a campaign focused so much on governance issues is something that Mosley would not be eager to get his teeth in to.

Bin Sulayem has also been tipped to run © XPB

"I have a long interest in governance issues and I don't think Max has," explains Ward. "I think Max was a brilliant leader of the FIA but he was winging it all the time. He is not someone who thinks that much about how these structures work."

The more recent speculation around Ward has suggested that he is merely a stalking horse for a more high-profile candidate like Mohammed bin Sulayem, who is currently evaluating whether or not to stand.

"I know Mohammed well," says Ward. "If he throws his hat in the ring, and I don't know if he will, I would welcome the fact there is someone else in the race.

"Because of this strange nominating process, though, it does create a problem of how many candidates there are, because you have to assemble your vice presidents and your deputies plus your 26 nominees. It is very hard to have any more than three. So I would have to look carefully at what I do if he does stand.

"In the end I am running for the governance reforms, not because David Ward should be president of the FIA. I think the FIA should have these changes.

"So if Mohammed thinks that my reform agenda is worthwhile and, if he is prepared to give solid undertakings and commitments to introduce it, then it is something that I should look at.

"It would be incredible folly to stand, and not do well, and have my reform agenda disappear down the plug hole. That would be completely counter productive to my ultimate aim, so I am simply going to wait and see."

It is clear speaking to Ward that success on election day in December will not be judged simply on him triumphing.

Instead, the effectiveness of his campaign will be defined by whether or not the reform agenda he thinks is essential for the FIA will be acted upon.

"I have never woken up at any point in my life, either now or before, thinking my unfulfilled ambition is to be president of the FIA, not at all," he says.

"One of the reasons why I am a difficult candidate for Jean is exactly that: I am a reluctant candidate, and I don't mind what happens to me.

"But I do mind about the governance of the FIA. And because of that I am fearless."