Quote:
Originally Posted by GTRMagic
A genuine statesman, a real leader, someone with a vision, who could corral any number of warring parties, achieve alignment and propel the relevance of the FIA into a new stratosphere.
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That is an interesting statement in view of the fact that we had Balestre, Mosley, and Todt preceding the present figure.
The first two were very hands on to the point of confrontational at times, and also left their mark in a number of areas.
The second was a strong ally of the commercial rights holder at the time, and many decisions reflected that relationship.
Todt on the other hand was almost invisible except for the 'trooping of the colour' occasions spending a lot of time with road car safety (as did Max) and diplomatic issues other than F1.
Any expectation that the new FIA leader could corral 'any number of warring parties' and 'achieve alignment' and 'propel the relevance of the FIA into a new atmosphere' is a lot of wishful thinking on someone's part.
It assumes the FIA wasn't relevant in road car safety (it was very influential on safety) and that as a sporting regulatory body it wasn't doing enough.
Yet what we have is pushback from a number of admittedly vested interests on the sporting side when in fact as regulator the ultimate authority over regulation, the FIA president is the one where the buck stops.
Not all his decisions an comment's may be considered wise but if people wanted to push 'the FIA's relevance into a new stratosphere' then MBS may simply have been living up to those expectations.
The FIA is still the regulator and has the responsibility for the sport but we have a very political group of individuals in F1 who are willing the push back as though the issues that affect them are their responsibility and it isn't surprising that there is some tension between the two parties.
Many of the regulatory issues are decisions made before MBS took on the job. Even 2021 at Abu Dhabi happened before Todt left office. It was just on MBS's desk when he arrived.
A different solution may have established his authority more substantively than has been the case and now the 'roar' from the 'racing media' and some 'famously outspoken F1 personalities' is almost like a pre-emptive campaign to create a movement to silence the FIA and run the sport as a few select personalities would like it to be run and regulated.
That may backfire substantially.
Just how and when remains to be seen.