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[McLaren Fan]

From: http://en.f1-live.com/f1/en/headlines/n ... 2057.shtml

Founding member of the FFSA and former FIA President Jean-Marie Balestre has died aged 86.

Balestre, a colourful and sometimes controversial figure in the sport, was elected as the head of the FIA in 1986 and remained in the role until Max Mosley took the position five years later.

Born in 1921, Balestre was the head of FISA, the precursor to what we know as the FIA today and signed the original Concorde Agreement which handed the commercial aspects of the sport to FOCA.


The FFSA confirmed the news this afternoon noting that his death is ‘an immense loss for the sport’.

Details to follow…

That was posted on that site literally at 16.45, the moment I clicked onto it. I suspect it will be on other sites soon enough.

Although I really disliked what he did to Senna in 1989 and tried to do in 1990 and his involvement in the FISA-FOCA war, he did do a lot of good things, such as improving the sport's safety and starting the Auto Journal magazine in France. Outside of Formula One, he was a war hero, serving on the French Resistance (possibly, for there is no real proof and he did throw in his lot with Germany for a while). He was also quite a character and his rants certainly were good entertainment value.

Basically, despite how he often infuriated me, he also made me laugh and did a lot of good, so I'm pretty sad to learn of his death.

[McLaren Fan]

Some more from Autosport:

Balestre passes away aged 87

By Pablo Elizalde Friday, March 28th 2008, 16:50 GMT

Max Mosley and Jean Marie Balestre in 1981Former FIA president Jean Marie Balestre has passed away at the age of 87, French media reported on Friday.

Balestre was president of FISA from 1979 to 1991 and then of the FIA from 1986 to 1993, before Max Mosley took over the position.

The cause of his death is yet unknown.

"This is a tremendous loss for motorsport," French motorsport federation president Nicolas Deschaux was quoted as saying by TF1. "He always knew how to carry the voice of the institutions he managed."

Former grand prix driver Jacques Laffite told L'Equipe: "We drivers loved him so much. He did a lot for us. We owe him enormously."

More to follow.

[7UpJordan]

This is sad indeed, whilst he did cause some controversy, he's done a hell of a lot better than Mad Max.

[McLaren Fan]

From: http://www.itv-f1.com/news_article.aspx?id=42160

Former FIA president Jean-Marie Balestre has died at the age of 86, according to media reports in France.

The Frenchman was president of FISA, the governing body’s then sporting arm, from 1979 to 1991 and of the FIA from 1986 to 1993.

Balestre was sometimes seen as a controversial figure and was heavily involved in the prolonged battle for the control and finances of F1 with the Bernie Ecclestone-led constructors’ body, known as the FISA-FOCA war which came to a head during the winter of 1980-81.

The eventual outcome saw the FIA retain power over sporting and technical regulations and Ecclestone gain the commercial side, resulting in the signing of the first Concorde Agreement.

Balestre also played a major role in helping to improve safety in the sport, notably banning ground effect cars at the end of the traumatic 1982 season.

But some of his actions also lead to criticism that he was abusing his power, particularly after the title-deciding collisions between Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost at Suzuka in 1989 and 1990.

He was also lucky not to be hit by Nicola Larini’s Osella car after crossing the track shortly after the start of the 1989 British Grand Prix.

Balestre lost the 1991 election contest for the FISA presidency to Max Mosley and was then replaced by the Briton as FIA president two years later after standing down from the role, while also proposing FISA be abolished.

He was a founding member of the French national motorsport organisation (FFSA) and was president of it until 1996.

Former F1 driver Jacques Laffite told French newspaper L'Equipe on hearing of Balestre’s death: "He loved us so much, us drivers.

“He did a lot for us.

“We owe him an enormous amount.”

From autosport.com:

Balestre passes away aged 86

By Jonathan Noble Friday, March 28th 2008, 16:50 GMT

Max Mosley and Jean Marie Balestre in 1981Former FIA president Jean Marie Balestre has passed away at the age of 86.

He was best known for being the president of FISA from 1979 to 1991 and also of the FIA from 1986 to 1993.

Prior to that, however, he was a founding member of the French national motorsport association, the Federation Francaise du Sport Automobile (FFSA), becoming its president in 1973.

During that period he also established FISA, and became heavily involved in the organisation's battles with FOCA over the control and finances of Formula One in the early 1980s.

Eventually Balestre agreed to a compromise deal with FOCA chief Bernie Ecclestone and they duly signed the first Concorde Agreement.

Remaining in change of FISA, Balestre began a crusade to improve safety in the sport - campaigning hard for the ban of turbo engines in 1989.

But Balestre's actions led some within the sport to criticise him for abusing his power - especially following the Suzuka controversies of 1989 and 1990 between Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost.

Senna in particular heavily criticised Balestre for what he felt was a campaign to favour Prost - and the Brazilian's comments in the winter of 1989 prompted Balestre to demand an apology if the then McLaren driver was to be issued with a superlicence for the 1990 season.

In 1991, after Balestre lost his role as president of FISA, Senna revealed that his collision with Prost at Suzuka in 1990 was the result of his anger at Balestre refusing to help change the side of pole position for that race.

Speaking in an emotional press conference at the 1991 Japanese Grand Prix, Senna said: "I tell you if pole had been on the good side last year, nothing would have happened because I would have got a better start. I would have been first into the first corner without any problem.

"But it was a result of a decision, a bad decision, influenced by Balestre. I know that. we know that from underneath. And we all know why, and the result was the first corner (accident). It was not my responsibility, I did contribute to it, yes, but it was not my responsibility."

Many fans will also remember Balestre for crossing the track shortly after the start of the 1989 British Grand Prix at Silverstone, when he was lucky not to be hit by the Osella of Nicola Larini.

Balestre eventually lost his presidency of the FISA in 1991 after losing the election to Mosley. Two years later, facing almost certain defeat to Mosley in the FIA role, he stood down from that role and proposed FISA be abolished completely. He carried on as president of the FFSA until 1996.

The current French motorsport federation president Nicolas Deschaux told TF1: "This is a tremendous loss for motorsport. He always knew how to carry the voice of the institutions he managed."

Former grand prix driver Jacques Laffite told L'Equipe: "We drivers loved him so much. He did a lot for us. We owe him enormously."

From: http://www.grandprix.com/ns/ns20183.html

The controversial Jean-Marie Balestre has died at the age of 83. For 13 years, until he was toppled by Max Mosley, he was the most powerful man in the motor sport world, as president of the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA).

Balestre was a passionate racing fan and a man who did much for the sport. It has been argued, notably by the late Ayrton Senna, that in the end Balestre was corrupted by his powers and that he manipulated the outcome of the 1989 Formula 1 World Championship in favour of Alain Prost. That was a radical claim, for Senna had much to do to win the title, but there is no doubt that Balestre's interventions did Prost no harm at all. In the end Senna was forced to back down. Even the sport's biggest name could not challenge the FIA President.

But there were other times when Balestre fought for the good of the sport. He believed that the turbocharged engines in F1 and the ground-effect aerodynamics were both dangerous and a waste of money. He pushed through the new normally-aspirated engine regulations in 1989, overcoming all opposition. When he changed the rules in the World Rally Championship, following the death of Henri Toivonen, he was challenged in court by the giant Peugeot company, the motorsport division being led at the time by Jean Todt. If the FIA had lost the case, the federation would likely have been bankrupted, but he stuck to his guns and won an important ruling which established considerable powers for the federation, which had not been defined up to that point.

Todt repaired to the Paris-Dakar and the two spat insults at one another.

Balestre had a thick skin, but then he needed one.

He spent much of his adult life trying to make up for mistakes he had made during World War II, when he threw his lot in with the Germans after the invasion of France. A member of the French SS, Balestre ultimately fell foul of the occupation forces and ended up being imprisoned by them, but it was not for any heroics, as he later claimed.

For years after the war Balestre took legal action against anyone who questioned his past. There might have been photographs of him in SS uniform, but this proved nothing. There were many law suits and Balestre won them all, but rarely was he granted any damages. He had an unbeatable defence which no-one could prove wrong. He had been in the resistance, he said, working underground. The only people who could vouch for him had all been killed.

No-one really believed the story, but in libel cases, it was the accuser who had to prove the story.

And it was just not possible to do that.

In the post-war era Balestre acquired the accoutrements of a resistance hero, much to the irritation of those who had really been involved.

There was more than a little irony in the fact that in the 1950s Balestre joined forces with Robert Hersant, a self-confessed collaborator who joked that it was amazing how he was the only Frenchman who had not been in the resistance. Together they started L'Auto-Journal in 1950 and built a media empire by buying newspapers, culminating in 1975 with the purchase of Le Figaro.

In 1950 Balestre had proposed the establishment of a French motor sport club and was a founder member of the Federation Francaise du Sport Automobile (FFSA) in 1952. He was an important figure in the world of karting and in 1961 was the first president of the International Karting Commission of the FIA. In 1973 he became FFSA president and five years later president of the International Sporting Commission of the FIA.

This he transformed in 1979 into the FISA, an autonomous federation within the FIA.

As FISA president Balestre then embarked on the famous fight for the control of Formula 1 racing - known as the FISA-FOCA war - against Bernie Ecclestone, Max Mosley and other F1 team bosses. This continued until 1982 when a compromise was reached and the first Concorde Agreement came into being. It is often said that if Balestre had hung on a little longer, the FIA would have routed the teams and kept control of the commercial rights of the sport. The compromise resulted in the teams gaining commercial control of F1, but the FIA held on to its sporting power.

In his latter years, Balestre's high-handed ways alienated many and in 1991 Mosley stood against him for the FISA presidency. Balestre went into the vote convinced that he had sufficient support to defeat Mosley, even though Ecclestone warned him he would lose. He was shell-shocked to discover that some of his supposed supporters had stabbed him in the back. There was a certain innocence in that.

Two years later, at the age of 69, Balestre did not oppose Mosley when he proposed the merger of the FIA and FISA and stood for the office of FIA President. Balestre remained active in the FIA as a member of various committees.

He was president of the FFSA until the end of 1996.

Balestre, for his many faults, had considerable charm and was a true fan of the sport, fighting for what he believed was right. There was a point at which he lost sight of what was important, although one might argue that his involvement in the World Championship in 1989 was that of a man desperate to prove that he was a patriot, to make up for the mistakes of his youth, to which he could never admit.

One can only imagine the pain he felt when he went to Brazil in the wake of the Senna Affair and saw the grandstands standing to attention, their arms outstretched in Nazi salutes, chanting "Sieg Heil!" as he went about his business.

A character? Certainly. A buffoon? From time to time. But somewhere in this tortured soul was a real racer.

There is no better epitaph than that.

[7UpJordan]

I find it shocking that the BBC and Sky Sports websites haven't even reported this yet.

[McLaren Fan]

I find it shocking that the BBC and Sky Sports websites haven't even reported this yet.

Yeah, I can't believe that myself.

[deMuRe]

Dude, you gotta stop with the 15,000 word posts...

[texasmr2]

Dude, you gotta stop with the 15,000 word posts...

RIP Jean-Marie Balestre!

[7UpJordan]

I find it shocking that the BBC and Sky Sports websites haven't even reported this yet.

Yeah, I can't believe that myself.

And they STILL haven't reported it, do they not hold him high enough regard just because of his involvement in the FISA-FOCA war and the controversy around Prost and Senna?

[onelapdown]

I think the non-specialised press simply don't know enough about motorsport to be capable of recognising this event's significance. I wait to see whether on April 7th they twig that it's 40 years since Jim Clark died. We shall see...

[McLaren Fan]

Dude, you gotta stop with the 15,000 word posts...

Sorry, I'm just posting information from sites which people may like to read.

Anyway, Mosley has send his condolences:

From autosport.com:
Mosley pays tribute to Balestre

By Jonathan Noble Friday, March 28th 2008, 17:41 GMT

Max Mosley and Jean Marie Balestre in 1981FIA president Max Mosley has paid tribute to predecessor Jean-Marie Balestre, who passed away today.

Balestre was president of the FIA from 1986 to 1993, when he stood down in favour of Mosley.

This came after Mosley took over the presidency of FISA in 1991 after an election.

Reacting to the news of Balestre's passing away, Mosley said that everyone within motor sport would miss him.

"It is with immense sadness that we have learned of the passing of Jean-Marie," said Mosley.

"His contribution to motor sport in France and indeed throughout the world has been unique.

"All those involved in our sport will miss him greatly and will join with me in extending our sincere condolences to his family and friends at this very difficult time."

It's interesting how politicians like one another when they're no longer rivals or dead. Ah well, it was nothing personal between Balestre and Mosley, just business.

[7UpJordan]

I think the non-specialised press simply don't know enough about motorsport to be capable of recognising this event's significance. I wait to see whether on April 7th they twig that it's 40 years since Jim Clark died. We shall see...

Fortunately last year they twigged it was the 25th Anniversary of Gilles Villeneuve's death.

[texasmr2]

Fortunately last year they twigged it was the 25th Anniversary of Gilles Villeneuve's death.

As onelapdown stated I hope they show Jimmy Clark that kind of respect also.