Ex-MEP Vatanen to lead world motor sport?

Next month’s election for the top job in motor sport is being watched closely in the European Parliament.

One of the two candidates for the presidency of the FIA (Federation International de l’Automobile) is former MEP Ari Vatanen. The likeable Finn recently left Brussels after a decade representing first his homeland and then, in his second term, the South East of France, where he has long been settled.

Mobility issues such as road safety were at the forefront of Vatanen’s parliamentary work, which is not surprising, because they have punctuated his life. When he was only eight, he and his family were in a car crash in which his father was killed. This did not deter him from embarking on a celebrated rallying career which took him all the way to winning the world championship in 1981.

However, four years later, he too was almost killed in a dreadful accident whilst competing in Argentina. His recuperation took eighteen agonising months, but it gave him the philosophical outlook on life which would later help him to make many valuable contributions to political debate – and it gave him the inner strength for an extraordinary sporting comeback which included four victories in five years on the daunting Paris-Dakar desert event.

There are many who feel that Vatanen’s rare mix of gentle wisdom, conciliatory instincts and well-tested resolve is exactly what the scandal-ridden world of Formula One needs after the turbulent reign of Max Mosley.

The outgoing FIA boss once had parliamentary ambitions himself, both at Westminster and Brussels, but they are unlikely to be realised now, for reasons that need no elaboration here. Perhaps that explains last week’s graceless outburst from Mosley, who is openly backing the Finn’s rival Jean Todt, rather than remaining above the fray.

He told Vatanen: “you have no experience; you didn’t even run your own rally car, you had a co-driver to do that”. So said the frustrated never-was politico and not very successful Formula Two driver to the man who was world champion and MEP for two countries.

It is weariness with precisely that sort of antagonism – and one case too many of poor governance after this month’s “Crashgate” hearing and the systematic leaking of evidence that preceded it – which is leading a number of seasoned observers to wonder if victory for Mosley’s anointed successor Todt is not quite as cut and dried as they were initially resigned to believe.

Mosley has worked hard over his tenure to ensure that the FIA’s structure always delivers for the status quo, and true to form the edict has gone out from on high to vote for Todt, the former boss of the Ferrari team.

But there is a strong feeling that the motor sport rot has to stop. “Clamour grows for radical change if F1 is to survive”, proclaimed a blunt headline in the Daily Telegraph at the weekend, with Vatanen identified as the candidate to deliver that change. The same day’s Guardian put it more romantically: “Ari Vatanen’s peasant revolt gathers momentum to end the Max Mosley era”.

There is more than a touch of truth in the description, for whilst Todt’s campaign has had the benefit of various, slick spin doctors on leave from the FIA, Vatanen’s effort has had to be very much more homespun.

No doubt about it, this is a David and Goliath contest, but many of the motor clubs who have a vote may be in no mood to put up with Goliath any longer. And no doubt about it either, after coming back from life-threatening injuries to conquer the Sahara four times, Ari Vatanen is too genuinely courageous to be bullied by a few spin doctors.

His many friends in Brussels (friends in the best sense, that is) will be rooting for him on 23 October, when the votes are counted.

Photo courtesy of Jannes Glas