Nicolas Todt has denied that his ART team, which have applied for the 13th slot on the grid for 2011, will be given preferential treatment because of the position his father, Jean Todt, holds within the sport.
Nicolas Todt, the son of current FIA president Jean, is co-owner of the French GP2, GP3 and F3 Euroseries team ART Grand Prix.
In an interview with Auto Hebdo, Todt laughed of any favours from within the FIA regarding his team’s entry into F1. Instead, he reckons he’ll have to do more to prove his teams worth to avoid any criticism.
“My father is anything but stupid,” said Todt. “For us, we need to do things better than the best in order to not be open to much criticism.
“Our dossier needs to be better than any others, because I do not expect any gifts from the FIA, quite the contrary.”
If ART are successful in gaining entry into the 2011 championship, the 32-year-old would be keen on seeing a French driver at the team.
“That would be even more enjoyable,” he proclaimed. “And even better with French technical partners as well. France has an enormous reservoir of human talent and enterprise at a very high level.
“There is certainly enough to show the English what we are capable of,” he joked in reference to the heavy involvement of British teams, drivers and engineers currently participating in the sport.
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