Is Todt worthy of remaining FIA president?

Back in June 2013 the FIA hosted its first sports conference. It convened, fittingly, at Goodwood during the build-up to the Festival of Speed.

The objective was the development and promotion of motorsport in all FIA regions, both topics that were to feature prominently in president Jean Todt's re-election manifesto later that year. It can be no coincidence that the FIA's global membership bought into his vision, and Todt was returned unopposed in October.

The next edition, held in Munich, introduced development, and educational opportunities for the FIA's sporting communities. Also included was the Sport MotorEx forum, which enabled motorsport's commercial network to reach out to the FIA community.

In 2015 delegates visited Mexico in June, ahead of the country's first grand prix since 1992, with the theme 'Make it fast, make it safe, make it for fans'. The focus was on the benefits of structured programmes for ASNs (National Sporting Authorities, as member organising clubs are referred to).

Last year's conference, titled 'Passion and Innovation: Past, Present and Future of Motorsport', was hosted in Fiat's former Lingotto factory - think Michael Caine in The Italian Job, careering around the rooftop of the iconic 1930s art deco building in a car chase - now converted into a conference and hotel centre.

Fittingly, conference displays featured the proud sporting heritages of Abarth, Alfa Romeo, Ferrari, Maserati and suppliers such as Brembo, Pirelli and Magneti Marelli.

"We designed this conference as a platform for exchanges, to enable people to meet and set up innovative projects as a result of these discussions," Todt said in his opening address. "For the FIA, it is important to ensure that motorsport is accessible to everyone, in all parts of the world."

The latest edition, held in Geneva immediately after Le Mans 24 Hours started by Formula 1 CEO Chase Carey, took motorsport conferencing to the next level - further consolidating the plans of Todt, a seasoned former rally co-driver and boss of Peugeot's victorious World Rally Championship/Le Mans teams before leading Ferrari's F1 effort to record-breaking hegemony, to grow motorsport under his mandate.

His second four-year term of office expires this year, of course, but he recently made himself available for re-election for what will be his final term should he prove successful - FIA statutes limit presidents to three terms.

Asked how he viewed his two terms, and his objectives for a third term - assuming he is successful, which a number of influential delegates at the conference firmly believe will be the case - Todt told Autosport: "The reason why I went to a first term was because, number one, I was quite attracted by the experience. Then I thought I had been so [fortunate] in my life that you need to give something back.

"Then I got to know the FIA community, they got to know me as well; it worked well. I like them, they like me - that's the reason I decided to do a second term. I am fortunate because I am still healthy - you never know, things can change. I am still passionate and they all want me to do another term.

"So I said, 'I need to decide', I wrote to them, I spoke with my wife, spoke with my son - the closest people around me - and we agreed they don't want me to be at home without [doing] anything. So I am continuing for the third term.

"I always say it's like this fight for road safety - we are at the bottom of a mountain and we are trying to climb. So here, in motor racing, I think we are at a certain altitude on the mountain, but still we did not reach the summit.

"So, the ideal - let's try with a team to go higher and go as close as possible to the summit, which we will never reach. But still we can go nearer."

Held under the theme 'Progress and Direction Together Through a Decade of Change', the three-day conference's speaker list surely was impressive. Following opening/welcoming addresses by Todt and deputy president for sport Graham Stoker, the first session (Looking back: Challenges we have faced and those that are to come) featured Carey, Toto Wolff, Carlos Sainz Sr and Stefano Domenicali.

The inclusion of Carey is telling, for one could not imagine Bernie Ecclestone addressing the FIA's global membership, and points to the healthy relationship between the FIA and F1's new commercial manager, Formula One Group. Alejandro Agag, CEO of Formula E, was unable to make the conference due to illness.

"There will be a new will of cooperation in our sport among promoters, the industry and the governing body," stressed Stoker during his address, a point underscored by the presences of Sean Bratches, F1's head of commercial, and World Endurance Championship boss Gerard Neveu.

Amusingly, during the plenary Carey and Wolff opened negotiations about F1's revenue structure on stage, which, again, one could not have expected during Ecclestone's F1 reign.

Sainz related his passion for motorsport, how he dreamed of being a rally driver from the age of 11 or 12, how a staircase helped him move upwards in his career: he won Spain's SEAT Panda Cup, which offered the prize of a drive in a Group 2 SEAT, without which, the double world champion emphasised, he could not have progressed. He proposed a sort of WRC4-WRC1 ladder, with promotion for winners.

"The key is to ensure that winners automatically have the opportunity to move up to the next level," he said.

Having rallied during the fearsome Group B era, the 55-year-old Spaniard, father of F1 driver Carlos Jr, knows of what he speaks in matters of safety: "It is a never-ending story. When I think of how we were doing rallies when I started, not only cars and helmets, but also the public and spectators, today that is history. But we must continue this progress."

Domenicali - the former Ferrari team boss-turned Lamborghini CEO who moonlights as chairman of the FIA's single-seater commission - described the progress made in restructuring the path from entry formulas to F1 via Formula 4, Formula 3 and Formula 2, with the ultimate objective being to see countries on both sides of the Atlantic adopting largely common regulations.

"Thanks to the vision of the FIA president, we planned for the right way to create the pyramid," said Domenicali, who, of course, worked with Todt at Ferrari before replacing him, "and since 2014 we have created 12 championships around the world.

"For the future we must ensure a balance between performance and training and learning, and we must keep costs down."

Following the plenary, a 'breakaway' interactive session on regional motorsport development provided ASNs with the tools required to grow motorsport in their territories and included the formal introduction of the FIA's 'Cross Car' concept - a sort of enclosed motorcycle-engine-powered buggy aimed at countries with developing motorsport infrastructures, and best described as an 'all-terrain kart'.

The plan is for Cross Cars to compete on surfaces ranging from ice through asphalt to gravel and sand, either singly against the clock or against each other - whether in racing, rallycross, stage or off-road rallying - with a range of power units enabling the same basic vehicle to be used with progressively more powerful engines. Numerous delegates, adult as they are, were seen to be mouthing the words "I want..."

During the subsequent cocktail/dinner party, a delegate from Kenya praised the 'meet-and-greet' component. "Without the conference, guys in places without F1 or WRC would never get to meet icons of the sport, which is really sad. Here they can meet someone like Chase or Carlos, talk to them, learn from them, take selfies."

A good point, and it is rather strange to consider that previous FIA presidents did not convene annual sporting conferences given the FIA's mandate to develop motorsport across the globe, not only F1.

The second day opened with an environmental workshop, an increasingly important aspect of motorsport administration given that noise and emissions are two factors that could eventually kill off global motorsport unless treated responsibly.

"There are two pillars in our environmental strategy," said Garry Connelly, the FIA's environmental delegate (and chairman of the stewards). "The first is to measure and improve - so to act responsibly and minimise our footprint. The second is innovate and promote, and this is where our sport has a great opportunity to be different."

In this regard, the progress made - and manufacturer interest in - Formula E shines a light on the sport's environmental awareness, with Todt pointing to the level of promoter interest in the category, which in 2018 features new events in Santiago, Sao Paulo and Rome. The post-2020 WEC regulations feature (standardised) plug-in hybrid systems, and are another indication of the FIA's seriousness in this regard.

The second session examined motorsport's future via speakers Patrick Head (Williams F1's founding technical director), Rodi Basso (McLaren Applied Technologies), Jean-Eric Vergne, Frederic Sausset, Susie Wolff, and Mario Almondo (Brembo), with the central theme being motorsport's technological relevance in other areas.

"I think motorsport is at a dividing point between road-car technology and entertainment," said Head. "The new [automotive] technology may not always be that beneficial to the entertainment side, but on the other hand, many people thought Formula E wouldn't last, and now it is going from strength to strength."

Picking up on the FE theme, Vergne, who raced in F1 before signing up to the electric category and the WEC, said: "Season five [2018/19] of Formula E is going to be a breakthrough. The cars will be sexier, with new batteries, other new technologies, and all while being twice as efficient.

"We will be the championship with by far the most manufacturers - it sends a very powerful message that Formula E is the future of motorsport, and shows how successful we can be if we embrace this new direction."

The last word in this session went to Almondo: "Motorsport tests technology, processes and materials in a way that isn't possible elsewhere. This is fundamental for us to develop new technologies - if you are at the peak of what is technologically possible, you inspire the rest of the world."

The afternoon session, featuring Bratches - who described F1 as "a fantastic global brand with half a billion fans around the world champing at the bit for more content" - Mark Webber, Neveu and Pirelli's Paul Hembery, examined motorsport as an entertainment medium.

Bratches believes that the biggest challenge facing F1's new commercial owner lies in attracting new fans: "For me it's about talking to the people at home - how are we going to get this sport across to them?

"We can lose them so fast these days by being 'in the bubble' in terms of our treatment and what we deliver at an event. We have to put a lot of meat on the bone for the consumer at home.

"We are trying to keep the original customer and we're trying to convert new people. If you start talking about DRS and MGU-Ks, all of a sudden you can get bogged down."

Webber, though, suggested that motorsport's challenge lies in reinjecting emotion: "In a lot of other sports - football, tennis, golf, basketball - there is a huge human component and that doesn't change.

"With our sport we have a problem, because we have a huge motorsport and manufacturing component.

"What is the entertainment side? Why are people turning the TV on? This our problem.

"Someone can relate to Lewis Hamilton and love what he does, but it is very hard to see what he is doing. That is the first challenge. Back in the heyday my mum knew that Ayrton Senna in Monaco was doing something special. The whole emotional side was visible."

However, Arnaud de Puyfontaine, CEO of France's Vivendi multimedia giant that recently extended its F1 broadcasting deal via its Canal Plus channel, disagreed: "This is an amazing world of competition and technology. The event has to be structured by rules, and it's even more important to have rules for safety and the perception of the sport in the global community, and this is of the utmost importance to the FIA.

"So, if you manage the purity of the discipline and the amazing aspect of the sports event, you have a winning formula. We are very proud to be part of it not just for business reasons but because we're in the entertainment business and it really is very cool."

That was the essence of the FIA's fifth sport conference: constructive dialogue, albeit with healthy debate. The objective was 'progress and direction', and there is no doubt that, as Todt's second term draws to an end, motorsport has made enormous progress during extremely challenging times and now has a defined direction while being united as seldom (if ever) before.

Fans owe the people in Paris an enormous vote of thanks. On the basis of the foregoing, Todt is likely to be elected unopposed (once again), for he clearly has the FIA's global membership fairly and squarely behind him.