Todt visits Maranello

FIA president Jean Todt made a visit to Maranello last week according to well-known Ferrari media insider Leo Turrini, writing on his Quotidiano blog.

Before Todt was spotted enjoying the fabled Le Mans 24 hour race at the weekend, he travelled to Ferrari's Italian headquarters, Turrini said.

Tongue in cheek, Turrini speculated that the 69-year-old former Ferrari chief might have been indulging in nostalgia, stopping by for a plate of tortellini, or enquiring about buying a new scarlet road car.

Another theory is that he wanted to talk to current Ferrari boss Maurizio Arrivabene about the future of Formula 1and the shape of its next regulations.

Or perhaps he wanted to talk about Ferrari's collaboration with the 2016 American entrant Haas, which Turrini says has been "the subject of complaints by Mercedes and Red Bull".

But also controversial at present is Todt himself, particularly as the sport finds itself in a period of deep introspection amid raging debates about rules and governance.

"Todt," wrote Times correspondent Kevin Eason, "is seen as a detached figure in F1, unable and unwilling to intervene in its problems."