FIA in Breach of Neutrality after Leaked Emails

The fact that Max Mosley has been consistently lobbying for Frenchman Jean Todt prior to the “democratic” FIA elections to be held next week is no news to anyone. The 69-year old Brit publicly addressed the FIA member clubs several times in the past to support the former Ferrari-an for his job, whereas Ari Vatanen was kicked out by Mosley during a FIA meeting on Wednesday. So much for neutrality...

However, this seems to be Mosley's least of the problems lately, as it was recently discovered by British newspaper The Daily Telegraph that several other active members of the FIA have lobbied for Todt via the email.

According to the reporters' findings, FIA director general Peter Doggwiler, and FIA Foundation director general David Ward sent several emails – which have been leaked, obviously – to the FIA member clubs “regarding a more intensive lobbying strategy.”

“One email from Doggwiler is to key sympathizers, advising them "I will call you this week to see where we are so I can make an adequate report to Jean". An email from Ward (...) indicates his involvement in the formation of Todt's cabinet, while another includes an attachment of Todt's campaign announcement, seeking amendments to the text,” shows the report from the aforementioned media, as showed by the GMM news agency.

In addition, another valuable information shows that the majority of those emails were sent from FIA Foundation email addresses, which further deepens the FIA's involvement in the neutral act of an election.

Considering that the governing body is based in Paris, the election process that will get under way next week will have to comply with the French law. According to leading sports lawyer Oliver Hunt, that would mean the FIA is currently in breach of neutrality.

“I'm not qualified in French law but my understanding of the basic legal requirements for any election process in France is that there is an overriding duty of neutrality,” said Hunt.