Life and career Jean Todt

1 life , career

1.1 rally co-driver 1966 1981
1.2 director of peugeot talbot sport 1982 1993
1.3 general manager of scuderia ferrari 1994 2007
1.4 ceo , special advisor @ ferrari 2006 2009
1.5 president of fia
1.6 other activities

life , career

todt born in pierrefort, southern cantal village in auvergne region of france, son of jewish doctor fled poland france @ age of 17. [2] todt enthusiastic cars , motor racing. while graduating École des dirigeants et créateurs d entreprise (edc) business school in paris, spend spare time tuning cars group of friends @ madeleine garage in asnières near paris.

after high school, todt studied @ ecole des cadres school of economics , business in paris. in 1966, started career rally co-driver , participated world championship rallies of car manufacturers international rally drivers until 1981 when, guy fréquelin, won constructors world rally championship talbot lotus. represented drivers in fisa (fédération internationale du sport automobile) rally commission 1975 1981.

rally co-driver 1966 1981

todt (right) darniche, nicolas , piot in 1973

the young todt fascinated motor sport , had special respect drivers jim clark , dan gurney. borrowing parental mini cooper drive in rallies, decided greatest strength co-driver. first co-drove guy chasseuil in 1966 , talent calculation, strategy , organisation made him sought-after navigator. 1969, todt involved world-class rally stars such jean-pierre nicolas, rauno aaltonen, ove andersson, hannu mikkola , guy fréquelin. went on enjoy success co-driver jean-françois piot, ove andersson, achim warmbold, jean guichet, hannu mikkola, jean-claude lefèbvre, timo mäkinen, jean-pierre nicolas , guy fréquelin.

in 1981, guy fréquelin’s co-driver talbot, peugeot subsidiary, won manufacturers’ world rally championship , runner-up in drivers’ world rally championship. @ same time, increasingly moving out role co-driver participating in management of team , in relations fia.

director of peugeot talbot sport 1982 1993

in 1981, retired competing co-driver , appointed director of racing peugeot ceo jean boillot @ time when psa peugeot citroën experiencing major financial difficulties image problems. applied abilities organiser , strategist creation of peugeot talbot sport, set spearhead french firm’s return competition. mastermind behind peugeot 205 turbo 16, peugeot 405 turbo 16 , peugeot 905.

in 1984, peugeot returned world rally championship and, in 1985 , 1986, peugeot 205 turbo 16 group b driven first timo salonen juha kankkunen obtained back-to-back manufacturers’ world championship titles. in 1986 henri toivonen died driving lancia delta s4 during tour de corse rally , fia decided drop group b class being fast , dangerous.

in 1987, todt adapted 205 turbo 16 off-road rallies aim of competing in showcase paris-dakar rally. became centre of attention in 1989 paris-dakar when tossed coin decide between 2 drivers ari vatanen , jacky ickx ensure rivalry not lead 1 of them quitting , costing team victory. 1987 1990, oversaw 4 successive victories in paris-dakar ari vatanen , juha kankkunen. peugeot subsequently decided withdraw off-road rallying , left field open citroën won event citroën zx rallye-raid, based on peugeot 405 chassis.

in 1992, won le mans 24 hours peugeot 905 driven derek warwick, yannick dalmas , mark blundell and, in 1993, again @ le mans, 3 905 cars driven geoff brabham, christophe bouchut , Éric hélary achieved 1-2-3 victory.

general manager of scuderia ferrari 1994 2007

todt in 2001

in 1993, @ age of 47, todt’s 12 years peugeot talbot sport came end. recruited luca di montezemolo, new ceo of scuderia ferrari. on 1 july of year @ french grand prix @ magny-cours, started in general manager of racing division @ head of team of 4 hundred technicians.

he first non-italian ever head scuderia. challenge lead ferrari success @ time when renowned italian formula 1 stable experiencing of worst days in history. italian team undermined internal quarrels , production system partly delocalised. scuderia had won no driver’s championship since 1979. todt set restructuring management of racing division.

in 1994, barely year after todt took challenge, gerhard berger won german grand prix (ferrari’s first win in 4 years). so, michael schumacher’s benetton-ford (world champion in 1994 , 1995) , williams-renault cars of ayrton senna, damon hill, nigel mansell , david coulthard largely dominated competition.

at end of 1995 season, todt asked german double world champion michael schumacher join scuderia. considered best driver of generation, schumacher agreed put skills todt’s mission. 2 establish friendship.

in 1996, schumacher won 2 consecutive victories in first belgian , italian grand prix. todt hired 2 former benetton managers, designer , aerodynamics specialist rory byrne , technical director ross brawn, replace john barnard.

in 1997 , 1998 ferrari missed out on world drivers’ title few points during final races of season, in 1997 behind jacques villeneuve’s williams-renault , in 1998 , 1999 behind mika häkkinen’s mclaren-mercedes.

todt achieved goal of reviving ferrari winning victories schumacher in 5 consecutive world championships (2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 , 2004), first in history of formula one.

ceo , special advisor @ ferrari 2006 2009

on 1 june 2004, todt appointed ceo of ferrari in addition title of general manager of racing division. on october 2006, 3 days after end of formula 1 season , following retirement of michael schumacher, took new post special advisor scuderia ferrari.

in 2007, prepared ground stefano domenicali succeed him head of scuderia 1 january 2008. then, on 18 march 2008, resigned position special advisor ferrari board, replaced amedeo felisa. nonetheless remained member of board of ferrari further year before resigning functions within italian firm in march 2009, after winning 14 world titles , claiming 106 victories.

president of fia

in april 2009, became president of “esafety aware!” promotion of smart vehicles , new safety technologies, enabled him improve knowledge of internal workings of fia while organising campaign of partner, michelle yeoh, fia’s ambassador road safety.

on 16 july 2009, officially announced intention of running presidency of fédération internationale de l automobile in election due take place in october. day before, had received support of outgoing president max mosley, had decided not stand re-election. second contender declare, 1981 world rally champion ari vatanen having announced candidature few days earlier.

on 23 october 2009, elected president of fédération internationale de l automobile (by 135 votes against 49 finnish driver , mep ari vatanen). elected new four-year term on 6 december 2013.

other activities

todt member of french académie des sports , académie des technologies. sits on board of directors of groupe lucien barrière (a french luxury hotel , casino group, owned friend dominique desseigne), edmond de rotschild sa , gaumont film company. administrator of société des amis du musée d art moderne de la ville de paris.

along michael schumacher, todt founding member of icm (institut du cerveau et de la moelle épinière, brain , spinal cord research group). driver , team principal have made regular contributions foundation many years , have not hesitated use image further aims. benefit organization, schumacher , todt appeared in movie asterix @ olympic games, released in january 2008. driver played role of schumix, chariot driver, , todt race director. todt vice president of icm foundation.

todt devotes himself humanitarian , other causes: in 2003, made roving ambassador republic of san marino , 2009 2013 tourism ambassador malaysia. in december 2014 elected chairman of board of directors of suu foundation, humanitarian organization seekong advance health , education of people of myanmar (burma) founded nobel peace laureate aung san suu kyi. since june 2015, jean todt member of board of directors of international peace institute.