Jean Todt: “After Ferrari I had an offer from Red Bull and I rejected it”

A long love story When you read the name Jean Todt it is impossible not to visualize him dressed in red and take your mind back to the golden age of Ferrari in the Schumacher era. The five consecutive world drivers’ titles and six constructors’ titles have written the history of Formula 1. But they came from very far away, with the work of Jean Todt which began in 1991 and which brought the first title – the constructors’ one – only eight years later: the French manager was put in the dock several times, but time has proved him abundantly right.
Todt left the role of team principal at the end of 2007 and any role at Maranello in 2009, after 18 years. The backstory: Todt and the offer from Red Bull In Jean Todt’s long chat on the High Performance podcast, there was also space for a backstory unknown to most, namely that the former Ferrari driver – once he left the Red Team – received an offer from Red Bull to take the reins of the Austrian company’s motorsport.
Here is Todt’s story: “When I left Ferrari, Dietrich Mateschitz wanted me to join Red Bull. He came twice for lunch at my house in Paris. He really cared, he was very interested. He didn’t like travelling, but he came twice anyway. He asked me to manage the team and manage Red Bull’s motorsport activities.” Jean Todt implied that he had no hesitations: “I told him no, that chapter was closed for me. I had successfully managed an iconic brand. In a certain sense, I couldn’t do better. And I wanted to dedicate myself to other things.”
The most classic of sliding doors: Christian Horner (arrived in 2005) remained in his place at Red Bull, while Jean Todt became president of the FIA ​​in October 2009.