FIA Presidential candidate Jean Todt has poured scorn on The People's Ari's claims to be the candidate of change, claiming that not only did the Finn unsuccessfully ask Max Mosley for support, but that he asked Bernie Ecclestone as well.
Todt was speaking in an interview with the Guardian newspaper in which he also said that he wanted to be "judged on delivery" rather than on promises. Todt faces off against Vatanen in the electoral vote on Friday to decide who will replace Max Mosley as the head of the governing body.
But Todt has faced pressure from Vatanen and the media after recieving the very public backing of Mosley and Ecclestone, which rather paints him as the status quo candidate, rather than Vatanen's efforts to be perceived as the candidate of change.
Todt, though, insists that Vatanen's attacks on Mosley's backing of his campaign is rather questionable, given that Vatanen approached Mosley, and according to Todt Bernie as well, in order to try and grab their support.
"I know my competitor went to see Bernie as well," Todt told the paper, "He wanted to try and convince Bernie to support him. Bernie said no. There are a lot of others he tried to convince."
Todt was also scathing of Vatanen comparing himself to Barack Obama. The People's Ari was recently quoted as saying that his campaign had "a Barack Obama thing happening...the tide has turned" when he announced that he felt he had already secured the votes he needed to win the election.
In reaction to Ari's evocation, Todt shrugged: "I would say that is presumptuous. You know, for me, Obama is a genius in communication. He is a Nobel peace prize-winning president of the United States. I would never dare compare myself to the most powerful man in the world."
As to Vatanen's position as the candidate of change, Todt explained that: "You must compare our policies. I feel we propose much more change. But I don't want to be judged on promises. I want to be judged on delivery. I know his slogan is 'The Tide Is Changing' – but you can't change without proper arguments.
"I only bother about wrong allegations. I use the example of Michelle [Yeoh, Todt's better half]. For a long time she has been doing a lot for road safety charities for no financial gain. It is completely inappropriate for this to be used against her. It is awful."
Todt also disputed some estimates that suggest the former Ferrari boss is in for an absolute hammering in the vote on Friday. Some predictions for the vote share among FIA members have even suggested of the 104 member clubs, Vatanen could secure the vote from 98 of them, with The People's Ari believed to have secured the bulk of the votes from the Middle East, a region clearly renowned for being progressive.
But Todt ses it differently: "I felt disappointed when the other side announced they had 80% of the votes in the Middle East. That is untrue. It's not good. If you are talking about transparency, and saying things must be clean, how can you give wrong information?
"I will not give you a figure but a large majority is in our favour. I have never met Prince Faisal [of Jordan, who Max Mosley wrote a strongly worded letter to urging him to vote for Todt]. But I hope I will meet him soon and show I can deliver a good job. If I am elected I want everyone to participate. One of my challenges will be to work well with Jordan and others who did not support me. I want to start from a blank sheet."
The vertically-challenged one also claimed that the teams were "not against me", while he insisted that he wanted to "put harmony in a place where it has been missing."
When asked about how he will be feeling when it is time for the vote, Todt shrugged and said: "I will be calm. I am quite optimistic the result will be in my favour."
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