FIA president Jean Todt believes the time has come for Scuderia Ferrari to lose their right to veto any potential rule change within Formula 1, which they have had since the 1980’s and the days of founder Enzo Ferrari.
Todt believes times have changed and it is not realistic for the Italian outfit to retain their power of veto, which they last used back in 2015 when it blocked the FIA’s plans to introduce a maximum price for engines and gearboxes.
“The veto was at the time of Enzo Ferrari, and he was isolated in Maranello,” said Todt to the media in London. “That was the only team supplying engine and chassis against some other teams that were all powered by Ford.
“So at this time, it was decided that being away from what is called the silicon valley of motorsport, they needed to have a protection. That is the story about the veto.
“But personally, I feel now I am not in favour of that. Times have changed.”
Todt was the only one to vote against the veto when it was last given to Ferrari for the 2013-2021 period, with all of the other teams at the time saying they had no issues that the Scuderia had the veto in place.
“I was the only one against. The only one,” said Todt. “I remember it was a meeting in Paris at the Place de la Concorde, in the FIA headquarters. It was the commercial rights holder. All the teams were there.
“And I said what is the position of the veto for Ferrari? They said ‘it was fine for us’. So it would have been inappropriate for me alone to say that I am against the veto right to Ferrari. The only thing is we modified the wording of it. So that is part of the answer.”
