As Vatanen previously stating that he is not happy with the lack of transparency and fair play in the competition for the FIA presidency, he stepped up to the table again and accused Jean Todt for campaigning with FIA money and support.
“Jean goes with a private plane with his girlfriend, supposedly as a FIA representative, to various parts of the world. In fact, he is doing a campaign totally supported and paid of FIA," said Vatanen.
Regarding the same FIA campaign, the Finn stated he has a widespread view and wants to do more for the other competitions as well. "The big, big majority of people involved in the FIA are not happy with the current state of affairs, FIA is not in a very good health”, declared Vatanen for in an interview with Italian 422race.com
Although FIA's club representatives from Spain and Germany said they were not in the position to declare their support for one of the candidates at the moment, Ari Vatanen stepped in the spotlight and declared he benefits from strong backing from the FIA representatives in the aforementioned countries.
“I'm just back from Spain and both the big Spanish clubs are behind me, the ADAC club (of Germany) is behind me, as is the biggest club in the world, the (American) AAA, in the person of his president Bob Dalbernet. We also need people from Asia and Africa behind a credible candidate”, continued Vatanen.
Most media sources link a potential FOTA support to Vatanen, as the Finn mentioned before he sympathizes with their cause in the most recent political debate between the teams and the FIA that held the front page of many newspapers for this year's F1 season.
Though Vatanen supports the change in FIA administration and believes Jean Todt is now backed by people who do not wish a change for the worldwide automobile federation, he fervently stated he is “not the puppet of FOTA”.
Google News