Next week Jean Todt will be confirmed for a third successive term as FIA president after standing unopposed. Understandably, to many fans the news is about as scintillating as yet another Mercedes one-two in Formula 1, but Todt's final four-year term - FIA statutes place a limit on the number of terms of office - is significant.
When Max Mosley stepped aside at the end of 2009 after a showdown with the Formula One Teams Association, which threatened a breakaway series, the then-FIA president supported Todt in the hope that the Frenchman would "continue my good work". Todt, though, soon proved to be his own man.
In 2013 the Max Mosley faction backed David Ward as candidate, with F1 tsar Bernie Ecclestone, Mosley's friend of (then) over 30 years who hit billionaire status thanks to F1, also patently opposed to another Todt term. In the event Ward withdrew after failing to garner support, and Todt sailed through, although there were whispers the wealthy Emirati Mohammed bin Sulayem, would stand in 2017.