“I wish I would have found the situation of today”- Jean Todt claiming Ferrari was much worse back in his time

“I wish I would have found the situation of today”- Jean Todt claims that back when he came to Ferrari, things were much worse than today.

Jean Todt, who had an incredible spell with Ferrari in partnership with Michael Schumacher, dominating all fronts of the sport. But according to Todt, it was not so easy in the beginning.

And while comparing his predicament to the contemporary struggles of Ferrari, he claims that he would have been lucky if things were like today back in his time.

“I have a good understanding about the situation,” said Todt during the Tuscan Grand Prix weekend. “I saw some reports, people keep saying it’s the same [but] it’s a completely different situation than the one I found when I arrived in July ’93.

“Honestly, I wish I would have found the situation of today. My life would have been much easier. Ferrari has the right management in place to bring the team back to the front,” Todt believes.

“Now it’s a very strong organisation, very well settled,” he said. “Probably some parts of the puzzle are not at the level they need to be where they are expecting to be. And, in a way, honestly, where Formula 1 needs them to be.

Jean Todt talks about his days of domination

With Mercedes currently nailing the current races of Formula 1, Todt believes that his time with Ferrari printed similar kind of dominance in Formula 1.

“The win of [Pierre] Gasly was a succession of miracles,” said Todt, reflecting on the previous race. “But notwithstanding that he will be the memorable winner of the Monza 2020 Formula 1 Grand Prix.

“In a way, you only remember seeing [winners] which are very special. Today when Hamilton is winning, it’s not very special the way you are used to.

“With Michael, I remember people telling me ‘we don’t watch TV, we are so fed up, it’s always the same’. We like something new, we all like something a bit different. So clearly it’s what we would love to have for Formula 1.”

About the author

Tanish Chachra

Tanish Chachra is the Motorsport editor at The SportsRush. He saw his first race when F1 visited India in 2011, and since then, his romance with the sport has been seasonal until he took up this role in 2020. Reigniting F1's coverage on this site, Tanish has fallen in love with the sport all over again. He loves Kimi Raikkonen and sees a future world champion in Oscar Piastri. Away from us, he loves to snuggle inside his books.

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