Jean Todt has officially left Ferrari, where he served as the company’s Chief Executive Officer, having been promoted to that position after being head of the Formula One race team. Todt’s resignation was officially announced at a Ferrari shareholder meeting in Italy yesterday. Todt remains on the Ferrari board of directors.

Speculation is now circulating that Todt’s next stop may be as head of the FIA, the international sanctioning body for Formula One and other classes of racing. Todt ran the Ferrari racing operation for over a decade and a half and is a close friend of FIA president Max Moseley. Moseley’s term as FIA president expires in 2009 and he is not expected to seek another term in that position.

It is not clear how such a move would be received in other quarters, but it is believed by some observers that Todt would have Moseley’s backing, were Todt to seek the office.

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The rumors are being fueled by Todt’s continuing participation at the FIA as Ferrari’s representative to the body, despite his departure from the presidency of the firm and the ending of his direct supervisory relationship with the Ferrari Formula One team.

Though Todt’s role as Ferrari boss, of both team and company, kept him in the public eye, public familiarity with him increased substantially last year, as he spearheaded Ferrari’s pursuit of McLaren over the stealing of Ferrari team secrets by McLaren employees, a scandal that eventually led directly to Ron Dennis, team principal at McLaren, and resulted in a $100 million fine against McLaren.