Across the Formula One world yesterday there would have been a shrug of weary resignation at the news that Jean Todt, the former Ferrari team principal, had been elected by a landslide majority as the new president of the FIA to succeed Max Mosley.

Todt’s elevation was followed by immediate speculation that he may ask Michael Schumacher, the seven-times world champion, to play a management role in Formula One, though informed sources were playing down speculation that the German legend could act as Todt’s first commissioner for the sport.

The Frenchman’s crushing victory came at the expense of Ari Vatanen, the Finnish former world rally champion and MEP, who was trying to convince FIA members to think outside the box and move away from a Mosley agenda — Todt was Mosley’s chosen successor.

But for all his talk about new beginnings and tearing down the edifice of the old to breathe life into the new (Vatanen even borrowed from Barack Obama with his “together we can” slogan), the talkative Finn made little headway. Of the 196 votes cast at the FIA headquarters on the Place de la Concorde in Paris yesterday by the presidents of member clubs, 135 were for Todt, with only 49 for Vatanen and 12 abstentions or invalid votes.

So the Todt regime begins and for Formula One a nervous phase of waiting to see how the new president will handle his role. It is no exaggeration to say that the sport has become exhausted by having to deal with Mosley, whose confrontational style and constant meddling sapped collective energy and could bring Formula One to crisis point.

Although many observers are suspicious of Todt and regard him as Mosley’s man, there is genuine hope that the Frenchman will adopt a more consensus-based approach to his management of the sport than his predecessor and that the paddock will be in for a more stable — more relaxing, even — time of it.

No surprise, then, that the Formula One Teams Association (Fota), the body that fought Mosley this year over his plans to enforce budget-capping, was quick to offer the new man a warm welcome. Luca Di Montezemolo, the Ferrari president and chairman of Fota, extended his hand of friendship and expressed his hopes for a brighter future.

“I would like to send my best wishes to Jean Todt in his new role as I have always appreciated his ability, dedication and commitment,” Di Montezemolo said. “I am sure that under his guidance the federation will be rejuvenated and will restore a climate open to dialogue and collaboration with the teams and Fota.”

Bernie Ecclestone, the sport’s commercial rights-holder, who has relied on Mosley as his “enforcer” over the years, was happy to welcome a quieter time of it under Todt, whose candidature had his full support. But he fired a little warning shot over the Frenchman’s bows.

“As far as Formula One is concerned, Todt’s the right man for the job,” he told The Times. “He knows all our problems and I’m sure he is not going to interfere at all. Jean is calmer than Max and is good for everyone, although Max did a very good job and we are going to miss him.”

Todt’s plan to appoint a Formula One commissioner to handle its day-to-day running, something that will remove the presidency from the front line, is likely to be welcomed by the teams, although the identity of his first commissioner is unknown.

There is great optimism within Todt’s campaign team that he will make the same sort of success out of the presidency as he did of the leadership of Ferrari and that this can only be good for Formula One. As Richard Woods, his spokesman, put it: “Now the FIA is his team and Jean will be looking out for the interests of the sport as a whole.”