I was opposed to Jean Todt becoming President of the FIA. This was not animosity directed against M. Todt, I don't know the man personally, though I have every reason to admire his remarkable record in motor sport.

I thought that the FIA would be healthier if the Anglo-French domination was broken. The Secretary General of the United Nations always comes from a country which does not have a seat on the Security Council and this is healthy. I was not happy that Mosley nominated Todt as his successor, my understanding of the rules is that he was not permitted to do that, but he did it anyway.

The outgoing administration certainly skewed the ballot. Because Todt was appointed as a safety delegate to the FIA, he had the use of a private jet and so was able to fly to lots of places to press the flesh. Remember, each affiliated country gets a vote for President of the FIA regardless of size, wealth, industrial clout or its contribution to motor sport.

While Mosley was banging on about the environment, Todt was laying down his carbon footprint to get votes.

There were occasions when Todt was able to attend events courtesy of his FIA position while his opponent, Ari Vatanen, World Rally Champion, and former MEP, was excluded. For me, this was typical of the FIA in the latter days of Mosley's Presidency. Mosley stayed on far too long and never fulfilled the prophecy he made to me in 1996 when he said that he would run for only two full terms because he thought that staying on would corrupt him. I taped the conversation, with Max's consent. I have the conversation on tape.

Having said all that, it is time to eat my words regarding M. Todt, because I like him. Unless you are English, you have no idea what it is like to say you admire a frog-eater, but I have warmed to M. Todt.

Todt is a Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur, the French equivalent of a knighthood, and I bet he won't object if I afford him the courtesy given to knights and refer to him as 'Sir Jean'. Hey, I now refer to Stirling Moss as Sir God, not just God.

With no fanfare, Sir Jean has done a very good job behind the scenes. He inherited all kinds of crap from the Mosley era and he appears to have settled Crashgate. Flavio Briatore may, in theory, return to Formula One. Also, in theory, pigs may acquire aviation skills.

Sir Jean seems to have placated Flav and there has been no talk about court cases for, oh, several weeks. You have to look at what does not hit the headlines. Sir Jean has been brilliant.

Flav can come back but, this is the point that everyone, except Pitpass, has missed, he has had to agree to his part in Crashgate. This is the unspoken thing that Sir Jean has pulled off. Without fanfare, Sir Jean has extracted a confession from Flav because Flav had to agree to the five year ban. Sir Jean has not made an issue of this, which is why most hacks missed it. He has not beaten his chest and bellowed, he has just got on and buried the issue while requiring Briatore to accept punishment.

Of course most hacks missed it, there was no press release.

We have seen senior Formula One drivers from the recent past enlisted as FIA Stewards at races and there has been little criticism of stewards' decisions. Max could have done that, but he chose stewards from obscure motor sport countries, perhaps to boost his political influence.

In the real world, you do not choose someone from England to rule on baseball and you do not ask a Brazilian to judge cricket.