Why Todt's reign is eight years longer than planned

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.

The multiple Middle East rally champion clearly had reservations about taking on Todt, and so the incumbent will be sworn in unopposed. Asked in Abu Dhabi whether he was surprised that the FIA membership obviously believed him to be the only man for the job, Todt joked that "It means two things: either that they are happy, or that they thought they had no chance to win - take it the way you want..."

The fact is, though, that when Todt announced his decision to stand after numerous requests to do so from member clubs, he immediately received 160 letters of endorsement - the FIA constitution requires candidates to produce six each from mobility clubs, sporting clubs and dual clubs, so 18 in total - so clearly the global membership believes he had done something right during his previous terms.

"I have a lot of downsides," he said last week in Abu Dhabi during a media session with selected journalists, "but if I say I'll do something, I do it. I visited in three years 150 countries, I got to know the FIA community, and I got to know amazing people - small, medium and big organisations.

"I'm not going to judge what was the FIA when I was elected, but clearly it was more split than it is now. One of my ambitions was to have a united FIA. I can say proudly that I did manage that."

While the role of FIA president is viewed by many as being the four-wheel equivalent of the top FIFA or IOC posts, that is only half the story, for the FIA represents the global motoring community in addition to being the regulator/administrator of motorsport.

During his Q&A with the media Todt touched briefly upon the Mobility pillar: "Mobility is to try to facilitate the life of any road users around the world. As you know, I have put two priorities on that. One is clearly established, which is road safety, I have also been appointed as a Secretary General Special Envoy for Road Safety on the UN side.

"The other very important item which we are going to develop over the next year is environment because, as you know, it's something essential which you have to take into consideration."

If Formula E is his motorsport legacy, the achievement Todt can be proudest of is the manner in which his administration turned around the FIA's finances

Your typical fan is more concerned with the FIA's sporting division than road safety. "It goes from karting, drifting, a pyramid of rallying, a pyramid of sportscar, touring car and single-seater [racing], and incidentally we have completed the pyramid of single-seater, which for me is very pleasing - Formula 4, Formula 3, Formula 2 and Formula 1," Todt explained.

With Formula E having been devised and nurtured during his watch, Todt is rightly proud as the electric series is enters its fourth season, and of all his sporting achievements - forget not that, in addition to a glittering career as international rally co-driver, he oversaw championship-winning rallying and sportscar campaigns and Ferrari's 2000s F1 hegemony - FE is most likely to be viewed as his enduring sporting legacy.

"[The 2017/18 season] starts next week in Hong Kong, which is amazing when you realise that you are racing in the heart of Hong Kong - nobody realised how special it can be racing in the heart of Paris or New York or Montreal, so I'm quite happy about that."

During the Abu Dhabi session he disclosed there would be changes made to the FIA World Motor Sport Council and Senate, driven by the new statutes revamped at his behest. These now limit the number of terms of office - under previous regimes presidents stood as long as they wished - and maximum age of office bearers (75).

Another change during Todt's incoming term will be greater female involvement within the sporting division at both administrative and sporting levels, with rally legend and current Women in Motorsport president Michele Mouton tipped to play a greater role. "She's always there. She's the power in the background," said Todt wryly of his former rally adversary.

Is the 66-year-old Frenchwoman being primed to succeed Todt? After all, why not a woman to head a global motoring organisation given that the global male/female driver split in the developed world is now virtually 50/50. As an aside: since 2010, women drivers in the USA have outnumbered their male equivalents, while an increasing number of women now compete in motorsports on equal terms.

If, though, Formula E eventually stands as Todt's motorsporting legacy - with WRX, also introduced during his second term, not far behind - the achievement of which he can justly be proudest is the manner in which his administration turned around the FIA's finances.

Annual revenues at the end of the Mosley era were £40million; eight years on, despite the ongoing global crisis, FIA turnover sits at £105m, while cash reserves over the same period have increased threefold to £85m from £25m in 2009 - despite the FIA having been paid around £240m by Ecclestone for F1's commercial rights just a decade earlier.

The FIA also stands to benefit from the future commercial success of FE, having negotiated a 20% share option at the time of launching the series. The FIA's controversial (but utterly legal) "tag-along" 1% holding in F1's commercial rights - worth around £70m - is being sold off in line with recent agreements, and the proceeds used to launch a new €50m FIA Innovation Fund to finance special projects.

These include:
- Environmental Sustainability
- Peace through Sport
- Sport and Young People
- Women in Motorsport
- STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) education and partnership apprenticeships with industry
- Disabled Motorsport

In addition to streamlining both the rally and single-seater pyramids, introducing FE/World RX championships, and developing the CrossKart concept, another project aimed at underpinning the FIA's role as global sporting body is Todt's Hall of Fame initiative, due to be launched next week (December 4) in Paris. Initial inductees will be F1 world champions, with other categories to follow. All these activities cost money.

Also on his 2018-2021 agenda are strategic and operational reviews of all FIA championship sporting and technical regulations (including F1), to, in the words of the Jean Todt and Team 2017 election manifesto, "avoid unnecessary rules and deliver safe but exciting motorsport".

When Todt was first elected he indicated he would do a single term, then phase out. As the magnitude of the restructure required to turn the FIA into the body he wanted it to be became clear, so he reviewed his schedule, and agreed to stand for another term.

"I don't need to be president of the FIA, to exist, to live, but I feel ... I've got so much out of motoring, that I feel I want to give something back," he explained in Abu Dhabi. He is, after all, far more comfortably off than most - the FIA presidency is an unpaid position - and he surely deserves a life away from motorsport after a life dedicated to it.

But he recognises that his work is still far from complete, and clearly the FIA membership has full confidence in his abilities, or would surely have nominated an opponent. The mere fact that no hopeful threw his hat into the ring speaks volumes for both the esteem in which Todt is held, and his unifying strategy, for election campaigns - in whatever organisation - are generally divisive, before, during and after poll dates.

Now the FIA can look forward to four years of stability without disruptive external forces and, with F1 in new hands, FE flourishing and feeder categories now properly structured from karting through to F2, global motorsport can look forward to a period of sustained growth as it moves into the second decade of the 21st century.