Sir Jackie Stewart has revealed he turned down a request to join Jean Todt and Ari Vatanen in the running to become the next president of the FIA.
The former triple world champion and Scot, who is a staunch critic of the office's incumbent Max Mosley, told Britain's Guardian newspaper that "someone high up" made the request.
The newspaper suggested to Stewart, who at 70 is even older than Mosley, that the request may have been a move from within the Todt camp to derail the increasing popularity of the independent candidate Vatanen.
"That certainly occurred to me," said Stewart.
"Particularly to be asked at such a late date. I replied 'absolutely not', just as I had said before," said the winner of 27 grands prix in the 60s and 70s, who has been dismissed in the past by Mosley as a "certified halfwit".
Stewart said he turned down the request to run because of his outspoken views about Mosley's ideal successor.
"My belief is that the president shouldn't be somebody who has been involved either recently or presently in formula one," he explained.
