Under-fire
FIA President
Max Mosley has received support from former
Ferrari team principal Jean Todt – a man once tipped to replace him at the head of motorsport's world governing body.
There have been innumerable whispers in recent years that the
Formula 1 hierarchy gives Ferrari preferential treatment over other teams, and a ringing endorsement from one of the
Scuderia's most senior and well-respected members – particularly when the majority view within the paddock is that Mosley should resign, something he is staunchly refusing to do – is sure to raise yet more eyebrows.
“He is very intelligent and of rare elegance, a gentleman,”
Pitpass quotes Todt as having told French newspaper
Le Journal du Dimanche, adding that he had never been given any indications that Mosley was anti-semitic. That was the most controversial of the charges levelled at him by the
News of the World, which last month published a front page exposé detailing what it claimed to be the 68-year-old's ‘sick Nazi orgy with 5 hookers'.
Todt himself is the son of a Jewish Pole, and he defended long-time friend Mosley's position by stressing that he was “astonished to see that things which have nothing to do with the importance of his job are being focussed on”, agreeing with the line that what the FIA President does in his private life is completely divorced from and has no impact upon his professional capacity to rule the sport. The 62-year-old also sought to avoid the question of whether or not he is the favourite to replace Mosley, suggesting the Englishman should indeed continue in the role
beyond the end of his current term in October, 2009.
“That is not the question,” Todt urged when pressed as to whether he was in-line to step up to the position in the near future. “If you ask me whether I am happy with the actions of the FIA President in his job, I consider that he does very good work. Therefore I hope he will have the opportunity to continue his work for numerous years.”
