In response to Mohammed Ben Sulayem’s assertion that he left the FIA with a financial deficit at the end of his term, former FIA President Jean Todt has commented.
Former Ferrari team principal Todt held the position of FIA President for three terms before Ben Sulayem took office in 2021, not long after the contentious outcome of Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen’s Formula 1 championship match of that year.
Ben Sulayem has made it known that the FIA’s financial situation has been one of his concerns thus far as president, citing a $20 million shortfall and a patent issue pertaining to the Halo gadget.
Todt has now refuted those assertions in an interview with L’Equipe that presents an other account.
“It must have had over 250 million euros in reserves when I left,” Todt said to the French publication.
“A few years earlier, the FIA had just given up the commercial rights to Formula One for a century, but when I came in 2009, there were hardly 40 million [Euro].” It’s not a deficit in my opinion.
Todt also discussed the establishment
