Jean Todt: I can advise Binotto one thing: wait a minute

Jean Todt, ex-FIA president, was one of the special guests this weekend at the festival organized by Gazetta dello Sport in the Italian city of Trentino.

In his speech, he discussed several topics, starting with Ferrari, as Todt once led this team, and this was the most successful period in its history. He also considers this time the best period of his career.

“Ferrari is the best chapter of my career. But today I have a different life,” said Todt. “It was a difficult but glorious time. For me, difficulties and success are inextricably linked, because success largely depends on how you overcome difficulties. That is what gives you satisfaction .

There were rumors somewhere about my possible return to Maranello, but now there are many different kinds of “news” that don’t match reality. I once had breakfast in Turin with Andrea Agnelli (with the president of the football club Juventus). Many saw me in his company and immediately thought that I was probably working at Juventus now.

Of course, when I was the president of the FIA, I often talked to John Elkann and we talked about Ferrari topics. But still, there is a difference between talking, expressing common hopes – and working together…

When we talk about Mattia Binotto, all eras in Ferrari’s history are different and I don’t want to give him advice. Giving advice is easy. I can advise him one thing: wait a minute. Now the Scuderia is doing well – I think people are not fully aware of this.

The team wins again. Although, I think everyone or almost everyone would like Ferrari to win championships, not just individual victories. We can hope it will be like that next year – I don’t think there are any more chances this season.

But to win championships, you have to do an excellent job in every way. This is not an easy task, but even more difficult is to keep the team at this level. And it all starts with attention to detail…

At one point Ferrari had the best car in the championship. But then they missed some opportunities – I think strategy-wise it wasn’t all good, the same can be said about reliability. There were several episodes that cost the team dearly. All this must be analyzed to avoid repetition of such things.

Of course nothing happens. And if you manage to make sure no aspect is left unattended, it means you have all the necessary ingredients to become a champion. Charles Leclerc, for example, has all the ingredients for this, but something is still missing. I hope he will soon have what he is missing.

When Todt was asked if he could draw parallels between Max Verstappen and Michael Schumacher, the ex-FIA president replied: “I know Michael very well, but I cannot say the same about Max. Like Michael, however, Max acts very resolutely and aggressively. Communication with Michael off the track has always been a pleasure, as I don’t know Max I can’t comment on this.

It’s clear that when I see him, he’s completely focused on racing. At the same time, it is clear that both were on excellent machines. To win, a driver needs a competitive car.

I have close ties with the Michael family, with Corinna, with Mick and Gina, and I consider this a special privilege. Their lives changed on December 29, 2013. Since then, something has changed for them. But the most important thing is that we remain good friends. It is also important that their family foundation Keep Fighting works.

All this is also part of life, and it is more important than the results of the race, although we love it very much. But life isn’t all about racing.”

When asked if he had any reason to be sorry, Todt replied: “I have five such reasons. We are talking about five championships that we should have won with Ferrari, but did not win. In addition, we made certain mistakes , but this is inherent in human nature: who among us does not make mistakes? .. “

Jean Todt emphasized that he does not like the word ‘proud’: ‘I am not proud of what I have achieved, but it does give me motivation. But there’s something that makes me happy: I’m talking about the foundation I founded, which deals with research in medicine, studying problems associated with brain and spinal cord injury, studying Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s. Now 750 specialists work in this center and it is considered the second largest neurological center in the world. It makes me a happier person.”