20/10/2009
FEATURE BY GLEN CROMPTON
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Ventriloquism: that amazing act of stagecraft whereby a person contrives to create the impression that their words are issuing from another - often a small facsimile of an actual person. Why is that when I regard Jean Todt's candidacy for Max Mosley's job I think of ventriloquism?
In the name of transparency, let me make it very clear that I am not part of any campaign for the FIA presidency. I did send an email to Ari Vatanen wishing him all the best and a couple of days later he responded with a polite, personal note of thanks. I was going to do the same with Jean Todt but his campaign web site omits a link that allows me to do so. Make of that what you will.
Maybe I missed something earlier this year but one moment Max was the all-pervading, all-powerful president of the FIA. A man squaring up to the rowdy rebels of FOTA and their threat of a breakaway F1 series. Next thing I know, the breakaway series went away and Max agreed not to stand for a further term as FIA president - although that was an undertaking I'd heard before. Granted there were press releases from some within FOTA which seemed to annoy Max into briefly un-retiring but that went away too and Max retired all over again. Or did he?
Nobody ever got around to telling me the exact connection between Max's retirement and the withdrawal of the breakaway series but one gets the impression that as much was contingent. It might be a great question to ask Bernie, who had previously registered the GP1 trademark, though I don't fancy the chances of a straight answer.
Whatever the case, Max has stood aside and that does not strike me as natural behaviour for the man. Max recently granted an interview to a woman who noted his lingering gaze on her 6-inch stiletto heels and in which he characterised himself as lazy. Everything about his FIA presidency suggests otherwise as do certain infamous tabloid videos.
Since I first wrote on this topic I have received a plethora of worrying responses. One such response I would usually dismiss as a crank. A dozen, maybe the same. But when the responses run to the numbers I have received and when the theme is so unerringly common, I find myself worried. Nobody wants to be named and stories include overt threats and bribe offers made to voting bodies and delegates personally.
In one example I am told that a representative body declared itself too busy to meet with Ari Vatanen. Too busy to meet with the man who may end up ruling the FIA? I think that a little more than irresponsible. As it happens, I later learned that the body in question has enjoyed much favour from the FIA and an F1 team once overseen by Jean Todt. Were I a member of that organisation, I would be wont to ask my executive committee some very hard questions about its voting intentions.
Another example became public when a British newspaper broke a story alleging that an endorsed member of Todt's team had made threats and offered bribes to seniors of a fellow African nation's representatives. Telephone records are sighted in this story and seem to compromise the threat-maker's outright denials.
I have also seen offerings from within F1 wondering why Richard Woods, the FIA's Director of Communications man, now supposedly on a sabbatical in order to work for the Todt campaign, was seen on the grid at Singapore in FIA uniform. The wonders of the internet have provided evidence that, at that event, Todt was physically manipulated away from Vatanen on the grid. One writer asked; "why did Woods even have a paddock pass if he is on sabbatical?" Good question.
Beyond what was sent to me, another story broke. In response to media leaks, the FIA Foundation saw fit to publish on its web site, the content and context of the emails in question. The published chain of correspondence appears to see a significant figure of the foundation using his email address and resources to lobby in favour of Jean Todt. It would appear that he may even have authored Todt's declaration of candidacy to the FIA membership. The email certainly makes it clear that this individual is prepared to have Todt's candidacy declaration translated into a number of languages. I assume this is not something that was offered for the benefit of Wikipedia readers. Suddenly I'm back to ventriloquism.
The FIA Foundation is a subsidiary of the FIA but is purported to be a wholly independent and charitable entity. As such it enjoys certain legal and taxation benefits in certain nations. Experts have already questioned the effect of these e-mails upon the FIA Foundation's status.
Yet another media story claimed that Ari Vatanen found himself in Max's office in Monte Carlo. Ari questioned why the secret ballot slips were to be given to the voting members in envelopes bearing the voters names. I'm with Ari here, it doesn't seem very secret. Depending on which version you read, either Ari was shown the door or Max stormed out. Either way, it remains that Ari's attempt to establish transparency met with obstinacy. Subsequently Ari took out an injunction under French law and the FIA web site responded with a typically patronising and sarcastic press release. Still I must say it is nice to see the FIA actually making a statement to the media rather than leaking its thoughts.
Before I go on, I should justly remind readers that in my previous article, which predated Ari's visit to Max in Monte Carlo, I quoted Max's letter to Prince Faisal in which Max appeared to make it very clear that that those who opposed Jean Todt could expect reprisals. In that context, I do not think it unreasonable that Ari should seek transparency. After all, Vatanen has nothing to gain from the simple request that the voting slips be distributed anonymously. On the other hand, a forensic chap I know tells me that no amount of independent ballot scrutiny would satisfactorily negate the threats supposed to have been made by Max if marked ballot's are used. Were Max the justly democratic chap he portrays himself to be, why on earth would the suggestion that names be removed from envelopes cause him such angst? Am I back to ventriloquism?
The incumbent FIA president has made it very public who he wishes to succeed him. Some of his equally incumbent underlings and old allies among the FIA's voters have shown the same urge. I have a fairly simple question and one which has yet to be satisfactorily addressed. WHY? Editor Balfe has already asked the same question though it seems only the brave minority in the mainstream media dare ask. Are there secrets in the filing cabinets at the Place de la Concorde that cause their present custodians to apparently act so rashly and with such obvious bias?
I don't know but I am beginning to fear as much. When Max Mosley signed over the commercial rights of Formula One for a further hundred years to Bernie, a man well into the second half-century of his life I smelt a pungent aroma. In the world of contracts, a year is a long time. A one hundred year contract is likely a difficult one to take into court should the need arise. That said, Max has already enjoyed precedent-making rulings before Mr. Justice Eady in the UK.
And speaking of justice, I was buoyed to read that Flavio Briatore is to take the FIA and its judgements into a real court. I do not care if Flav is ultimately guilty or innocent. I care that the FIA was foolish enough to back him into a corner whereby he has nothing to lose. Flav is set to expose the truth, that for all its legal terms and pretences, the FIA is not a court of national binding justice. It is a court of imagination which pays homage only to the will of those among its ranks imprudent enough to consider the FIA to be anything more than a collective of contract and agreement respondents across the globe.
Among the correspondence I have received, not a single writer has suggested dark activities by Vatanen or his supporters. In fact that holds true of the media coverage I have seen as well. There have been suggestions of a "negative campaign" and "smear tactics" by Vatanen but these have only been coming from the Todt camp. I have read nothing of threats made by Ari or his supporters to voting members. With respect to the Immortal Bard, the ladies doth protest too much.
Speaking of the Todt campaign, I have been forwarded a number of promotional emails from that camp. My favourite was the one headed "Teamwork". I would be most interested to hear what Rubens Barrichello might have to say about Jean Todt's concept of teamwork.
That email was a curious thing. It featured pictures of many famous people saying nice things about Jean Todt. There was Pele, Prince Albert of Monaco and the President of Singapore. I was thinking it looked a bit like the kind of magazine found at checkouts in supermarkets and was fully expecting to see Jean embracing England's alternate royals, Posh and Becks. Note to self, if this is the best work of FIA media wunderkind Richard Woods, I shall make a point of never hiring him if I run for an election.
In my previous article I made it clear that I thought enough improprieties had been raised to goad the FIA into action. I reasoned then and I still do that sagging under the sheer weight of the publically known matters concerning the actions of the FIA staff, members and its president, the election is already sullied to the point that a Todt victory is likely to wind up in court. The FIA has had the chance to react and, unsurprisingly, given the names on the Todt election ticket, has not. Like a bad GP result or the unsupervised elections of a third world Oligarchy, I think it is likely that long after the scheduled FIA vote has been counted, the outcome will remain undecided while lawyers grow ever more wealthy.
All of that raises serious questions for me. The most important are:
Why is there such a strong effort from within the FIA secure the presidency for Jean Todt? I should like to see a formal and complete answer to that one before the election but I'm not holding my breath. In fact I should like to see a future edict introduced into the FIA constitution that prevents lobbying by any incumbent FIA office holder, employee or affiliate. So much of this election debacle would not exist if such statues already existed.
From a legal perspective, have voting FIA Members, Max Mosley or any other FIA incumbents conspired to influence the outcome of the upcoming election and if so have laws been broken? I ask that because if it is true, then the elections will be a waste of time. Courts in France and beyond may spend years arriving at verdicts that will ultimately decide the outcome of the coming elections. Should that come to pass then what? A caretaker presidency by Max? Perhaps that was the plan all along?
Why has the FIA not reacted to the significant body of evidence that those within its own ranks may be acting improperly? It could have done so, and perhaps cleared Todt as a legitimate candidate in his own right, but it has chosen not to and thus ensured that a Todt victory would forevermore raise eyebrows and questions.
But most of all, the question is, are we motorists, caravan haulers, motor sport fans and plain old punters who never get invited to the Place de la Concorde going to stand by and let this happen? A wise fellow said that no matter how insignificant what you do may seem, it is important that you do it.
A trip the FIA web site reveals that while the contact details of all the voting members are published, there is no complete list per se. One could be forgiven for suspecting the FIA of subterfuge. Enter an intrepid Pitpass reader who painstakingly compiled a complete list and provided it to us. The reader prefers not to be credited but is well aware of our gratitude. Why is it that people seem to be overwhelmed by a longing for anonymity whensoever Max Mosley is a potential respondent?
This link click to download pdf provides access to those who will be voting in a few days. I urge all readers to make best use this contact information. And do so quickly, not many more sleeps until the election.
I also urge any readers in a position to do so, to raise ANY concerns they may have regarding the voting intentions of their FIA representatives with the relevant local legal authorities. I'm sure they too do a nice line in anonymity. It is a phone call I may well make myself as I feel the tap on the shoulder from federal authorities may well be the reminder needed to my representatives that Max and his cronies offer no protection.
In the end, maybe I have it all wrong. Perhaps you'd all like a few more decades of motoring and motor sport governance interlaced with clever and entertaining ventriloquy?
I give over the closing sentiments of this article to my beloved and long suffering wife. When regaling her with the story above, she cut me short and uttered, "oh no, not another short Frenchman with suspect allies and delusions of world domination - that will end badly". She has a fair right to say so, her great grandfather was among those on St Helena ensuring that Napoleon didn't bugger off.