Mosley predicts less friction if Todt wins

Ahead of Todt's first visit to a grand prix in Singapore this weekend since announcing his bid to become FIA president, Mosley is predicting great things from the Frenchman if he beats former world rally champion Ari Vatanen to the job.

"Jean will do a much better job than me in many, many ways," said Mosley, who has publicly endorsed Todt's bid to become president. "And in some ways he will upset the F1 teams less because he probably won't come up with the next big idea.

"He will make sure it all runs like clockwork and is completely fair, honest, open and transparent - and that is what you need."

Todt has so far shied away from stepping in the public spotlight since announcing his bid to become president, but is due to visit the F1 paddock in Singapore - as well as meet the Formula One Teams' Association (FOTA).

And although there remain question marks about his suitability to the role, on the back of his ruthless imposition of team orders in the Paris-Dakar and when he was Ferrari team principal, Mosley thinks that those controversies do not damage his ability to be a good president.

"All of those things Jean did were within the rules, as they were at the time, and were in the best interests of his team," said Mosley.

"The thing about Jean is that when he was Peugeot he was 100 per cent Peugeot. When he was Ferrari he was 100 per cent Ferrari. And when he is FIA he will be 100 per cent FIA.

"There will be no old ties or loyalties to Ferrari, or Peugeot or Citroen. He will be totally down the line. And that is the good thing about him. He is absolutely open, absolutely honest. Sometimes he upsets people because he says it as he sees it. He is not a politician in telling people what they want to hear - and that is what we need."

Mosley has revealed that Todt has always been his preferred candidates to succeed him - and that he only stayed on in recent years while waiting for the Frenchman to be free of commitments elsewhere so he could stand.

"I completely wanted to stop in 2004 which is why I resigned then," he said. "But it became clear that the most likely replacement was going to be someone totally unsuitable.

"I had it in mind since before then to suggest to Jean Todt that he should do it, because he is the only person on the horizon who has got all the necessary experience, knowledge and great managerial ability.

"But he was, at that point, becoming CEO of Ferrari, so he had a day job. So I really had no alternative but to continue, although it was against my will.

"Then I would have liked to have stopped halfway through 2007. But when it was coming onto my radar screen there was the McLaren thing, so I couldn't walk away from that."

When asked for comments about Todt's rival Vatanen, Mosley said: "Ari keeps complaining, and has done it several times, that I should be neutral and not favouring Jean.

"But he has forgotten that at the end of June, when I announced that I was standing down, he called me up and said, 'can I come and see you?' So I invited him to lunch.

"He came to lunch on July 3 and said he was going to stand, and asked me if I would support him. I said I couldn't support him as I promised to support Jean.

"I said, 'I will be very honest. I think Jean is a much better candidate. You have no experience, you have never run anything, you've not been in charge of even the smallest organisation, you have no concept of what it is like. You didn't even run your own rally car, you had a co-driver to do that.'"