FIA: We must have complete control

Editor

As the decision-making process within Formula 1 garnered much criticism with drastic changes to the sport, FIA President Jean Todt believes that they should have complete control of it.

Involved in the process are the Strategy Group, the F1 Commission and the World Motor Sport Council. Last month, World Champion Lewis Hamilton said that there are already too many parties getting a say as to what changes need to be made.

With the qualifying format change garnering the most criticism, Todt said that if the FIA would be given complete control then the logical thing to would be to change the regulations once again but he cannot make that decision all by himself.

"The FIA should have complete control, as the regulator and the legislator of Formula 1," he told autosport.com.

"But historically it has not been like that. It is what I have inherited. It is like that.

"I'm not a dictator, If I was a dictator then I would have imposed Q1 and Q2 as it is now, with a time change, and Q3 revert to 2015.

"But I've been entrusted by 250 FIA members to be the president, so I cannot allow the FIA to be sued, and we would lose.

"Normally when dictators do that – and we have examples on much more important matters than in sport – they always fail. The time of dictators is past.

"We have governance, I respect the governance, and as long as I am entrusted to be president of the FIA then I will follow the governance."