Mosley has a go at Vatanen, Todt and berger

Milking the Max Mosley interview some more, ITV quotes the F1 Magazine story concerning the FIA presidential election which featured a race between current president Jean Todt and his competitor Ari Vatanen.

It seems Mosley was not content in taking aim at Ferrari’s Luca di Montezemolo but has also suggested that Vatanen couldn’t handle the job of FIA president. In fact, he suggests that Todt is barely managing as it is.

“I’d have been very worried, because I think Jean, with all his ability, is finding it quite a struggle,” Mosley said.

“It’s so much more complex than when I took over [in 1993], and I think it would’ve been completely beyond Ari.

“There is endless scope for making mistakes, and I don’t think Ari would have known where to start.”

Apparently Mosely is the only one who can handle the nuances, trials and tribulations of the job. I am sure there are many complexities to running the FIA as it seems to be an organization intent on protecting its political agenda more than providing tangible products or services and such is the nature of a body like the FIA.

When asked about the successor for F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone, Mosley thought an Austrian might be handy at the job. Would Gerhard Berger make a good commercial rights boss for the CVC?

“He’s very clever: he fundamentally understands the business and always did his own deals,” Mosley said of Berger.

“But there’s only a small chance it would happen – I’m not sure he’d want to do it.

“Gerhard is an entrepreneur, and if he does business, he does it for himself to make money.

“I can’t really see him working for [F1 commercial rights holder] CVC.

“I think a more likely figure would be some sort of outside, very able manager and deal maker – somebody who runs a big enterprise successfully.”

I think Mosley may be right about this final thought. The CVC would most likely want someone in their organization representing the commercial rights and securing their investment. While Mosley comes across as making Berger sound like a self-serving bastard in it for himself, I think the point is that Berger would not be keen to working for the CVC and would favor a more personal interest in running the sport.

I hear Flavio Briatore has time on his hands and might be interested in running the sport. ;)