Jean-Marie Balestre
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Jean-Marie Balestre was president of FISA from 1979 to 1991 and of the FIA from 1986 to 1993.
During World War II, Balestre is said to have worked as an undercover agent for the French Resistance, although the details of his activities during World War II are, in fact, unknown. After the war he established a successful French automobile magazine called Auto journal. He was a founding member of the Fédération Française du Sport Automobile, a French national motorsport organization, in 1950, and in 1961 became the first president of the International Karting Commission of the FIA. He was elected president of the FFSA in 1973 and president of the FIA's International Sporting Commission in 1978. He was instrumental in trasforming the International Sporting Commission into the Federation Internationale de Sport Automobile (FISA) in 1979.
Jean-Marie was heavily involved in what is colloquially called the FISA-FOCA war, a political battle over finances and control of the Formula One World Championships between 1980 and 1982. Balestre and his opponent, Bernie Ecclestone, settled the dispute after Enzo Ferrari brokered a compromise. Balestre signed the first Concorde Agreement, under which FOCA was granted the commercial rights to Formula One while the FIA retained control of all sporting and technical regulations.
Balestre is credited with establishing specific crash test requirements for Formula One cars, significantly improving the safety of the sport. He was also a key proponent of the switch to naturally aspirated engines in 1989, also arguing that such a move was essential for safety reasons. However, Balestre has also been accused of using his power for more than it was intended. In 1989, after Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost collided at Suzuka, there were implications in Autosport Magazine that Balestre was involved in manipulating the World Championship in favor of Prost. This ultimately led to Max Mosley's decision to run for the FISA presidency.
Balestre was elected as president of the FIA, while remaining president of FISA, in 1986. He was replaced as president of FISA in 1991 when he lost the election to Max Mosley in October by a vote of 43 to 29. Facing certain defeat in the re-election to the FIA presidency in October of 1993, Jean-Marie elected to stand down, and proposed that FISA be abolished and Mosley replace him as president of the FIA. Balestre maintained the presidency of the FFSA until the end of 1996.
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