the one who destroyed the sporting code

i have read many news articles which discussed how hypocritical the current general director of team ferrari marlboro is. under him, the flag of ferrari in formula one shines quite brightly as far as results are concerned. however, in the near future as these victories lose their glossiness, historians will realize much of this was achieved by a person who made one of the most sporting name in the early history of motor racing into one of the most unsporting (those that count anyway).

i have long believed those allegations that ferrari cheats to be true as they have so many accusers. also they often seek re-interpretation of the rules as long as it favours themselves. all this is the work of one man, jean todt. there is nothing essentially wrong with the team. much of the criticism laid on his star driver is also not of michael schumacher's making. i believe jean todt is the bad guy whose influence causes the entire team to be very unpopular among their peers.

in the latest crisis, jean todt explains that he and team ferrari marlboro were not informed of any plans to add an extra chicane to the indianapolis track. however, there is prove in the form of a letter from the fia cc to him, contradicting his claims. does a team principle who brought the ferrari team from years of failure to years of victory miss out on these significant events troubling his rivals?

anyway, whatever the answer to the question is, the fact remains that the fia wrote him a letter informing him of this possible solution to a simple problem; one which all 20 drivers had knowledge on and agreed to be all right. yet he claims not to have been told about it. this sort of behaviour is not dissimilar to the way the soviets used to deal politically with the west. jean todt's idea of being told about something is only valid if he approves the idea.

some years back mclaren was dominating the track and i wanted ferrari to do well. in fact, i always want fairness in sports. everyone should have their turn to do well. williams and mclaren were never proud privateer teams even when they were successful. ferrari was an equally sporting team. then, jean todt arrived on scene.

he alleges being in the dark over discussions by the nine teams, the twenty drivers (including those of team marlboro ferrari), the media, f1 fans, alex yoong, 8tv, itv, among others who were debating this issue and the letter from fia to all the manufacturers involved (including jean todt, scuderia ferrari).

he forgets the time when the michelin teams allowed bridgestone to use an intermediate wet tyre, although the rules specifically mentioned either a wet tyre or a dry tyre. in fact, the teams awaited for track conditions to be suitable for the bridgestone tyre before the race was resumed. all along the track was suitable for the michelin runners who had the correct tyre at the Brazilian grand prix. jean todt is not one who remembers how to be sporting and this is one of the ways he has turned a nice guy like michael schumacher into a person who will barge into his brother and his team mate for placing and someone who can face taking victory from a team mate who lets him by under team orders. michael never had a chance to have a clean sheet of honourable victories and this will probably hurt his pride in the years to come. stabbing a man in the back and living the remainder of life in shame is just not a way to live, mr todt.

everytime i hear an unfavourable comment on jean todt, how can i not believe it? how can i forget that he has constantly lied to everyone including ferrari fans? the name jean todt is beginning to be synonymous the one who destroyed the sporting code of formula one.