Vatanen's FIA manifesto

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Vatanen was at the Nurburgring on Saturday and speaking for the first time since announcing he is to run for the FIA presidency.

The 1981 World Rally champion, and four-times winner of the Paris-Dakar Rally, made it clear it is "time for a change" following 16 years of rule under Max Mosley.

Vatanen insists he has no wish to "throw dirt at Max". But the 57-year-old Finn believes the FIA have lost respect over the years, in particular of late with the FIA-FOTA battle.

"It is true that in the last two years we have spent more time on the battle ground than on common ground," remarked Vatanen.

"I would say we need to reconcile, and the result of that would be unification. It's as simple that.

"We mustn't complicate things unnecessarily. We mustn't get to a stage where personal ego trips or victories in a power battle, for glory or whatever, determine the future of our sport.

"Imagine if there was a rival series, that would be the end of the FIA as we know it. Everybody would lose, including those in the other series.

"It's now at the 11th hour to apply common sense, and maybe a bit of humility would not be bad either.

"It is clear something is not right. But I will never throw dirt at Max. I have a very good relationship with him. I totally disagree with some of the things he has done, and he probably disagrees with me, but that is on another level."