Former FIA president Max Mosley has called on his replacement, Jean Todt, to be more confrontational when dealing with the teams.
Mosley, who left his position amidst a newspaper scandal over his private life, put the FIA at the centre of several high profile arguments including cost cutting measures he tried to introduce which led to the teams announcing a breakaway series – which was later called off.
Todt however has remained largely quiet in comparison, which has led many to believe he’s taken a back seat in negotiations particularly surrounding the new Concorde Agreement.
Mosley isn’t quite sure how effective Todt’s style of negotiation is, but he believes he needs to speak louder if he’s to be heard.
“He’s got a completely different style. How effective it is, you can’t really tell,” he told Sky Sports F1.
“He’s still in his first mandate. I think he will go on, but he’s working from nine in the morning to nine at night. It’s much harder than it looks from the outside,” he added.
“If he goes on, then we’ll start to see. At the moment maybe he’s a little bit too reluctant to confront. He seeks consensus. It’s good to have consensus but sometimes you’ve got to get them to just do something.”
Drawing on his own experience, the 72-year-old argues that the teams don’t always know best and the governing body has to step in and make a decision.
“Back in 2003 when the teams would not agree about costs, I just said ‘we’re just going to stop the qualifying engines and qualifying cars and we’re going to have a parc ferme at six o’clock.’
“The teams went berserk, but it was the right thing to do and now people agree about not having qualifying cars and engines.
“Sometimes you’ve got to be a bit confrontational,” he concluded.
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