FIA president Jean Todt arrived in Malta yesterday early in the afternoon and was soon answering questions from the press at the VIP lounge of the Malta International Airport.
Todt spoke about of a lot of things involving motor-sport as well as on this year’s championship. He said: “This year we will have a championship with 20 races over a long season, starting early in March and finishing late in November. It will certainly be very demanding with new regulations, new tyres and a new race circuit in India.
“Of course, I cannot say who will be in front at the end, we have to wait and see how it will evolve. But I am really excited to see the cars being tested as from this week,” he said.
The FIA president said he was glad to be visiting a small country. “I have just been to Bosnia Herzegovina. Now it is Malta’s turn and I am very pleased to be here. In such countries I know there is great passion and enthusiasm for our sport. I feel it is a privilege for me to meet local federation members and clubs, visit facilities and share ideas with them on how improvement can be made,” he said.
He went on to explain the difference between being a Ferrari CEO for several years and later becoming the FIA president. “Well I think I have had a lot of success in my career, with different companies, especially with Citroen and from 1993 with Ferrari. It was exciting to be in a position preparing cars for the races. At Ferrari, where I was appointed CEO, I enjoyed the major successes of my life. Now as the FIA president, the major difference was that I needed to be elected to the presidency by the various members of the World Federation,” he added.
He said that he is now very excited about the fact that what he is doing, does not only affect FIA, but also those millions of enthusiasts around the world. “I am an ambitious man and with the good team I have around me, I am convinced that we can achieve much more than we have already achieved since I was elected. We have to work as a team to be successful, but our priority will always be safety which is very essential in our sport,” he said.
Asked what contribution could Malta give to motor-sport, Todt replied: “It always depends on the means of the country. No one can expect Malta to stage big international meetings like F1 or Rally events. But it is nice to know that there is a lot of passion and enthusiasm in favour of the sport from the local thousands of enthusiasts,” he remarked.
Todt insisted that safety was his major concern and said that one fatality was always too much. He added: “Malta can serve as an example to the world in what has to be done to have safer racing. It can help drivers through education, implementation of new techniques, electronics safety control, progress in road infrastructure, using the safety belt and no drinking while driving.
“I am pleased to say that we have not had a fatality in top class racing since Ayrton Senna’s death at Imola, way back in 1994. That shows that improvement has been done and my predecessor deserves most of the praise,” he added.
Todt also spoke about the forthcoming world championship. “I think it will be another tight battle for the title with the arrival of more new technologies – it is fascinating to see what a big improvement has been made in all spheres in the last century, especially in the last two decades. The big challenge now is to see what is going to happen in the next 20 to 30 years.”
Earlier, he was met on arrival by Clyde Puli, Parliamentary Secretary for Sport, and Tonio Cini, president of the Malta Motor-Sport Federation.
Puli and Cini said they were honoured to see such a giant in world sport among us and thanked Todt for accepting the invitation to visit the island on the occasion of the SportMalta Awards ceremony, held yesterday evening.