Max Mosley

Max Mosley
Born	(1940-04-13) April 13, 1940 London, England
Nationality	British
Title	President of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile
Predecessor	Jean-Marie Balestre
Parent(s)	Sir Oswald Mosley and The Hon. Diana Mitford

Max Rufus Mosley (born 1940, London, England) is currently serving his fourth term as president of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), a non-profit association that represents the interests of motoring organisations and car users worldwide. The FIA is also the governing body for Formula One and other international motorsports.

Mosley is the fourth son of Sir Oswald Mosley, former leader of the British Union of Fascists (BUF), and the second child from his second marriage to Diana Mitford. Like many members of the BUF, Mosley's parents were interned in Britain during the Second World War and he was separated from them for the first few years of his life. He was educated at private schools in France, Germany and Britain before going on to attend university at Christ Church, Oxford where he graduated with a degree in physics.

From an early age Mosley was involved in politics; in his teens he arranged social activities for the Union Movement (UM), his father's post-war party, and was later a prospective UM parliamentary candidate. However, the association of his surname with fascism has stopped him from developing his interest in politics further.

Mosley is a former barrister, amateur racing driver, and a founder and co-owner of the March racing car constructor and Formula One racing team. Mosley looked after legal and commercial issues for the company. March entered Formula One in 1970 and, although only sporadically competitive in the category, became a very successful constructor of racing cars for customers in Europe, the United States and Japan.

In the late 1970s, Mosley became the official legal adviser to the Formula One Constructors Association (FOCA), the body which represents the Formula One teams. In this role he drew up a legal document now known as the first Concorde Agreement. This agreement was put in place to settle a dispute in Formula One between FOCA and the Fédération Internationale du Sport Automobile (FISA), which was the governing body of Formula One. Although it has been revised several times since, the basis of this first agreement still governs the sport. Mosley was elected president of FISA in 1991 after challenging the incumbent Jean-Marie Balestre for the presidency. He became president of the FIA, FISA's parent body, in 1993. There is often controversy surrounding Mosley's presidency of the FIA, which has led to speculation on his retirement.

Family and early life

Mosley is the son of Sir Oswald Mosley, who had been a Labour minister, and a Member of Parliament for both the Conservative and Labour parties in the 1920s. By the 1930s, Sir Oswald had left mainstream politics and become the leader of the British Union of Fascists (BUF). Mosley's mother was Sir Oswald's second wife, Diana Mitford. Early in the Second World War, on 23 May 1940, Sir Oswald, who had campaigned for a negotiated peace with Nazi Germany, was interned under Defence Regulation 18B, along with most active fascists in Britain. On 29 June 1940, Lady Mosley was also imprisoned, 11 weeks after giving birth to Max Mosley. As a result, Mosley and his older brother, Alexander, were separated from their parents for the first few years of their lives. In December 1940, then prime minister Sir Winston Churchill, who knew Lady Mosley socially, asked Home Secretary Herbert Morrison to ensure that Lady Mosley was able to regularly see Max.

Sir Oswald and Lady Diana Mosley were released from detention at HMP Holloway on 16 November, 1943. Their children were refused entry to several schools, due to a combination of their wildness and their parents' reputation, and were initially tutored at home instead. In 1950, the Mosleys bought houses in the Republic of Ireland, and in Orsay, near Paris. The family spent the year moving around Europe, spending the spring in France and the autumn and winter in Ireland, where Mosley was keen on hunting. His aunt Nancy Mitford, in letters to Evelyn Waugh, recalled Sir Oswald and his family cruising the Mediterranean on the family yacht. On one such trip they visited Spain and were entertained by Sir Oswald's friend, General Franco.

Initially Mosley was educated in France, then at the age of 13 he was sent to Stein an der Traun in Germany for two years, where he learnt to speak fluent German. On his return to England he was educated at Millfield boarding school. He attended Christ Church college at Oxford University, graduating with a degree in physics in 1961. During his time there he was Secretary of the Oxford Union. In 1961, Mosley campaigned under the slogan "Free speech for fascists" when his father's invitation to speak at the Union was opposed. Shortly afterwards, Mosley introduced his father to Robert Skidelsky, one of Mosley's contemporaries at the university, who later wrote Sir Oswald's biography. Mosley went on to study law at Gray's Inn in London, specialising in patent and trademark law, and qualified as a barrister in 1964. Northumbria University awarded Mosley a Honorary Doctorate of Civil Law in 2005.

Mosley, like many of Formula One's drivers, lives in Monaco. He met his future wife, Jean Taylor, at a Union Movement party; they were married in 1960. They have two children: Alexander, who was born in 1970, and Patrick, who was born in 1972. In addition to his brother, Mosley has five older half-siblings. On his father's side they are Vivien Mosley, the novelist Nicholas Mosley, 3rd Baron Ravensdale and Michael Mosley. On his mother's side they are the Irish preservationist, Desmond Guinness, and the writer, Jonathan Guinness, 3rd Baron Moyne.

Politics

From their teens to early twenties, Mosley and his brother, Alexander, were involved with their father's post-war party, the Union Movement (UM), which advocated a united Europe as its core issue. Trevor Grundy, a central figure in the UM's Youth Movement, writes of the 16-year-old Mosley painting the flash and circle symbol on walls in London on the night of the Soviet Union's invasion of Hungary (4 November, 1956). The flash and circle was used by both the UM and the pre-war BUF. He also reports Mosley enthusiastically organising a couple of large parties as a way "to get in with lively, ordinary, normal young people, girls as well as boys, and attract them to the Movement by showing that we were like them and didn't go on about Hitler and Mussolini, Franco and British Fascism all the time." When Sir Oswald ran for the Kensington North seat in the 1959 General Election, Mosley and Alexander canvassed for their father.

Mosley was later an election agent for the Union Movement, supporting Walter Hesketh as parliamentary candidate for Moss Side in 1962. The motor racing journalist Alan Henry describes the younger Mosley as one of his father's "right-hand men" at the time of a violent incident in 1962 in which Sir Oswald was knocked down by a mob in London and saved from serious injury by his son's intervention. As a result of his involvement in this fracas, Mosley was arrested and charged with threatening behaviour. He was later cleared at Old Street Magistrates' Court on the grounds that he was trying to protect his father. In 1964, Mosley himself was a prospective UM candidate.

Mosley was a member of the Territorial Army during the early 1960s, training as a parachutist. This training led some national English newspapers to link him to the French right wing Organisation de l'armée secrète (OAS), which was involved in the Algerian War at that time.

In the early 1980s, Mosley attempted a political career, working for the UK Conservative Party and hoping to become a parliamentary candidate. He is reported to have given up this aspiration after being unimpressed by "the calibre of senior party officials". He also felt his name would be a handicap and has since said that "If I had a completely open choice in my life, I would have chosen party politics, but because of my name, that's impossible."

Racing career

While Mosley was at University, his wife was given tickets to a motor race at the Silverstone circuit. The circuit was not far from Oxford, and the couple went out of curiosity. Mosley was attracted by the sport, and when his career as a barrister was bringing in sufficient money, he started racing cars himself. The sport's indifference to his background appealed to Mosley:

"There was always a certain amount of trouble [being the son of Sir Oswald] until I came into motor racing. And in one of the first races I ever took part in there was a list of people when they put the practice times [...] and I heard somebody say, 'Mosley, Max Mosley, he must be some relation of Alf Mosley, the coachbuilder.' And I thought to myself, 'I've found a world where they don't know about Oswald Mosley.' And it has always been a bit like that in motor racing: nobody gives a darn."

At national level in the UK, Mosley was moderately successful, competing in over 40 races in 1966 and 1967, of which he won 12, and setting several class lap records. In 1968, he formed the London Racing Team in partnership with driver Chris Lambert to compete in European Formula Two, the level of racing just below Formula One. It was a dangerous time to race. Early in the year, Mosley competed in the Formula Two race at Hockenheim in which double world champion Jim Clark was killed, and within two years both of Mosley's 1968 team mates were dead in racing accidents. Mosley's best result that year was an eighth place at a non-championship race at Monza.

March Engineering

Main article: March Engineering

Mosley's legal skills were frequently called on at March: one example was a contract dispute with Frank Costin, designer of the novel aerodynamics of the March 711 seen here.

In 1969, after two large accidents due to breakages on his Lotus car, Mosley retired from driving, having decided that "It was evident that I wasn't going to be World Champion." He was already working with Robin Herd, Alan Rees and Graham Coaker on setting up March Engineering, a racing car manufacturer. The name March is a contrived acronym based on the initials of the founders; the 'M' stands for Mosley. Like the other founders, Mosley put in £2,500. His role in the new company was to handle legal and commercial matters. His father told him that the company "would certainly go bankrupt, but it would be good experience for a later career."

Mosley played a key role in publicising the new outfit. Although March had few resources and limited experience, the firm announced ambitious plans to enter Formula One, the pinnacle of single-seater racing, in 1970. The team had initially intended to enter a single car, but by the beginning of the season (partly due to various deals made by Mosley), the number of March cars entered for their first Formula One race had risen to five. Two of these were run by March's own in-house works team and the rest by customer teams. Mosley also negotiated sponsorship from tyre maker Firestone and oil additive manufacturer STP.

The new operation was a qualified success. In Formula One, March cars won three of their first four races, including a world championship race, the 1970 Spanish Grand Prix, won by reigning world champion Jackie Stewart in a customer car run by Tyrrell Racing. As a result, March finished third in the 1970 Constructors' Championship. The factory also sold 40 cars to customers in various lower formulae, although there were no major wins. Despite these successes, the organisation got into financial difficulty almost immediately. The Formula One operation was costing more than the customer car business was making. The March works team's contract with its lead driver, Chris Amon, was costing a lot of money, and Mosley, in his own words, "tried at every opportunity to get rid of him". He reasoned that Stewart's highly competitive customer car was enough to show March in a good light. At the end of the season, Mosley successfully demanded full control of the finances, including the factory run by Coaker, who left shortly afterwards. Mosley and Herd borrowed £20,000 from relatives and friends to support the company into its second year. According to Bernie Ecclestone's biographer, Terry Lovell, the money came from Mosley's half- brother, Jonathan Guinness.

Tyrrell started making its own cars towards the end of 1970, and March's 1971 program in Formula One was much reduced, with no recognised front-running driver. The Firestone and STP sponsorship had proved insufficient and Mosley failed to attract a large backer for 1971. Motorsport author Mike Lawrence has suggested that the shortfall forced him into short-term deals, which maintained cashflow, but were not in the best long-term interests of the company. Nonetheless, March again finished third in the constructors championship, and works driver Ronnie Peterson was second in the drivers' World Championship. The team experimented with Alfa Romeo engines, sometimes to the detriment of race performance, but Mosley's hopes of funding, or even partnership with the Italian automobile manufacturer, were not met. Rees left at the end of the year: the company was even further in debt and, according to Herd, Rees wanted to "spend everything on Formula One, on the basis that the results would bring in the money". Mosley, on the other hand, took the view that they could not spend the money they did not have. Rees denies Herd's claim, but says he left on amicable terms.

Mosley pushed for the unusual six-wheeled March 2-4-0 to be built as a publicity device. Sales of models of the car are claimed to make it the most profitable car the company ever made.

March continued in Formula One as a minor team until 1977. The cars were driven by a large number of drivers, many of whom were paying their way. Marches were also popular with other teams, largely because they were cheap and available. The cars were often towards the back of the grid, although in 1975 and 1976 they were more competitive, and the works team took one win in each year. However, losing money on a deal to supply Jochen Neerpasch, then motorsport manager at Ford, with a Formula Two car paid off, when Neerpasch moved to BMW and offered March an exclusive deal in 1972 to use BMW's Formula Two engine. March cars powered by BMW engines won five of the next 11 European Formula Two championships.

In 1976, Mosley, having seen the popularity of Tyrrell's six-wheeled P34 with fans, pressed for a six-wheeled March to be built as a draw for sponsors. The resulting March 2-4-0 never competed in Formula One, but generated the required publicity and a Scalextric slotcar model was profitable.

During the 1977 season, Herd was pressured by BMW into spending his time on their March-chassised works Formula Two programme. As a result, Mosley had to act as engineer in Formula One for drivers Ian Scheckter and Alex Ribeiro. The atmosphere between drivers and team was hostile, although Mosley believes he had a good relationship with Scheckter. By the end of 1977, Mosley was fed up with the struggle to compete in Formula One with no resources and left to work for FOCA full time, selling his shares in the company to Herd but remaining as a director.

Formula One Constructors Association

Main article: Formula One Constructors Association

From 1969, Mosley was invited to the meetings of the Grand Prix Constructors' Association (GPCA) as a representative of March. The GPCA was the forerunner of Formula One Constructors Association (FOCA) and negotiated joint deals on behalf of its member teams. Although the brash new constructor was not popular with the established teams, Mosley notes that "when they went along to meetings to discuss things such as prize money, they felt they ought to take me along because I was a lawyer".

Mosley was unimpressed with the standard of negotiations. In 1971, British businessman Bernie Ecclestone bought the Brabham team, and Mosley recalls that "Within about 20 minutes of him turning up at the [GPCA] meeting, it was apparent that here was someone who knew how many beans made five and after about half an hour he moved round the table to sit next to me, and from then on he and I started operating as a team. Within a very short time, the two of us were doing everything for the GPCA, instead of everyone moving around in a block, and from that developed FOCA."

The FOCA was created in 1974 by Ecclestone, Colin Chapman, Teddy Mayer, Max Mosley, Ken Tyrrell and Frank Williams to represent the commercial interests of the teams at meetings with the Fédération Internationale du Sport Automobile (FISA), motorsport's world governing body. After leaving March at the end of 1977, Mosley officially became legal advisor to FOCA, which was led by Ecclestone. In his biography of Ecclestone, Terry Lovell suggests that he appointed Mosley to this role not only because of his legal ability, but also because he "saw in Mosley the necessary diplomatic and political skills that made him perfectly suited to the establishment of the FIA". The Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) was FISA's parent body, representing car users worldwide. In the same year, Mosley was nominated for a role at the FIA Bureau Internationale de Constructeurs d'Automobile, a forerunner of the FIA Manufacturer's Commission. His nomination was blocked by French, Italian and German manufacturers.

In the early 1980s, Mosley was heavily involved in the conflict between FOCA and FISA for control of the sport. He represented FOCA at several meetings over this period. In 1981, FOCA announced its own World Federation of Motor Sport and ran the non-championship 1981 South African Grand Prix. The staging of this event, with worldwide television coverage, helped persuade Balestre that FISA would have to negotiate a settlement with FOCA. As Mosley has commented since: "We were absolutely skint. If Balestre could have held the manufacturer's support for a little bit longer, the constructors would have been on their knees. The outcome would then have been very different." Mosley helped resolve this debate by drawing up the Concorde Agreement. The first (1981) version settled the dispute between the independent teams which were primarily UK based, the so-called grandee constructors (Alfa Romeo, Ferrari and Renault) and the FIA. Essentially it gave FISA control of the rules and FOCA control of promotion and television rights. The most recent version of the Concorde Agreement expired on 31 December 2007, and a new one is under active discussion. Mosley left his role at FOCA, and Formula One, in 1982, the year after the first Concorde Agreement was signed.

FISA presidency

Main article: Fédération Internationale du Sport Automobile

Mosley returned from working for the Conservative Party to become president of the FISA Manufacturers' Commission and establish Simtek Research, a racing technical consultancy firm, with Nick Wirth, a former March employee. He sold his share of Simtek in 1991, when elected president of the FISA, although Simtek later carried out research work for the FIA.

In 1991, Mosley challenged the incumbent Jean-Marie Balestre for the presidency of FISA. Mosley said that his decision to challenge the Frenchman was prompted by Brazilian driver Ayrton Senna's disqualification from the 1989 Japanese Grand Prix after a collision with his team mate Alain Prost: "What happened to Ayrton Senna two years ago in Japan, disgusted me, [...] That is when I realised that Fisa [sic] was not a fair organisation." Balestre was widely reported at the time to have intervened on behalf of his countryman Prost to ensure that the race stewards disqualified Senna from the race, although Lovell writes that he did not. Mosley campaigned on the basis that Balestre, who was also president of the FIA and of the Fédération Française du Sport Automobile, could not effectively manage all these roles together. Mosley won by 43 votes to 29. He resigned a year later, fulfilling a promise made during his election campaign to seek a re-affirmation of his mandate. "I wanted to show people that I do what I say", he said. "Now they can judge me in a year's time." FISA immediately re-elected him for a four-year term. Balestre remained as FIA president until 1993, when a restructuring of the FIA led to the demise of FISA.

FIA

Three-times WTCC Champion Andy Priaulx wearing the HANS device now mandated in FIA championships

Main article: Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile

In 1993 Mosley was elected president of the FIA, replacing Balestre. The FISA was then merged into the FIA as its sporting arm. Mosley was elected to his second term as president of the FIA in October 1997, his third in 2001 and fourth in 2005. The FIA currently regulates not only the Formula One World Championship, the World Rally Championship, and the FIA GT Championship but also international motorsport generally, all of which appear on the FIA International Calendar.

Driver safety

After the deaths of drivers Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix, worldwide media attention focused on the charismatic triple-world champion Senna, rather than Ratzenberger, a virtual unknown driving for the minor Simtek team. Mosley attended the funeral of Ratzenberger. In a press conference 10 years later Mosley said, "I went to his funeral because everyone went to Senna's. I thought it was important that somebody went to his." As a result of these deaths and other serious accidents in the mid-1990s, Mosley brought in wide ranging changes to Formula One designed to make it a safer sport. These have included reducing the capacity and power of engines, the use of grooved tyres to reduce cornering speeds, the introduction of the HANS device to protect drivers' necks in accidents, circuit re-design and greatly increased requirements for crash testing of chassis.

Environmental issues

Mosley has said that he wants Formula One to start developing green technology. Continuing a theme of his presidency he has called for Formula One manufacturers to develop technology relevant to road cars. In recent years, a large proportion of the enormous budget of Formula One has been spent on the development of very powerful, very high-revving engines, which some say have little applicability to road cars. Mosley has announced a 10-year freeze on the development of engines, which would allow manufacturers to spend more of their budgets on environmentally friendly technology such as Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems (KERS).

Tobacco Advertising

From the late 1960s to the early 2000s, F1 teams were heavily dependent on funding from cigarette companies like Rothmans. Mosley was partly successfull in delaying European legislation to outlaw the practice.

In 1997, Mosley was involved in delaying European legislation banning tobacco advertising. The British Labour party had pledged to ban tobacco advertising in its manifesto ahead of its 1997 General Election victory, supporting a proposed European Union Directive banning tobacco advertising and sponsorship. At this time all leading Formula One Teams carried significant branding from tobacco brands such as Rothmans, West, Marlboro and Mild Seven. The Labour Party's stance on banning tobacco advertising was reinforced following the election by forceful statements from the Health Secretary Frank Dobson and Minister for Public Health Tessa Jowell. Ecclestone appealed "over Jowell's head" to Jonathan Powell, Tony Blair's chief of staff, who arranged a meeting with Blair. Ecclestone and Mosley, both Labour Party donors, met Blair on 16 October 1997. Mosley argued that the proposed legislation was illegal by EU rules, that Formula One needed more time to find alternative sources of funding and that the prompt introduction of a ban would lead to races being held outside Europe, while the coverage, including tobacco logos, would still be broadcast into the EU. He also argued that:

"Motor racing was a world class industry which put Britain at the hi-tech edge. Deprived of tobacco money, Formula One would move abroad at the loss of 50,000 jobs, 150,000 part-time jobs and £900 million of exports."

On 4 November the "fiercely anti-tobacco Jowell" argued in Brussels for an exemption for Formula One. Media attention initially focused on Labour bending its principles for a "glamour sport" and on the "false trail" of Jowell's husband's links to the Benetton Formula One team. On 6 November correspondents from three newspapers inquired whether Labour had received any donations from Ecclestone; he had donated £1 million in January 1997. On 11 November Labour promised to return the money on the advice of Sir Patrick Neill. On 17 November Blair apologised for his government's mishandling of the affair and stated "the decision to exempt Formula One from tobacco sponsorship was taken two weeks later. It was in response to fears that Britain might lose the industry overseas to Asian countries who were bidding for it."

The revised directive went into force on in June 1998, and banned sponsorship from 2003, with a further three year extension for "global sports such as Formula One". On 5 October 2000, the directive was successfully overturned in the European Court of Justice on the grounds that it was unlawful. A new Tobacco Advertising Directive took effect in July 2005; The Financial Times described Mosley as "furious" about the fact that this was a year earlier than provided for under the 1998 directive.

Road safety

Asked in a 2003 interview about his most enduring achievement as president of the FIA, Mosley replied: "I think using Formula One to push Encap Crash-Testing." The European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP or Encap) is a European car safety performance assessment programme that originated with work done by the Transport Research Laboratory for the UK Department for Transport. The FIA became involved in the programme in 1996, taking a lead in promoting it, and Mosley chaired the initiative from its launch as Euro NCAP in 1997 to 2004. Despite what NCAP describes as a "strong negative response" from car manufacturers, the initiative has expanded, and NCAP reports a clear increase in the safety of modern cars.

At the Euro NCAP 10th Anniversary Conference in November 2005, Mosley suggested that "the moment has come where the emphasis really has to move from the improvement of the performance of the car in a crash, to the avoidance of the crash entirely". He believes this can be achieved by much wider use of 'eSafety' technologies such as Electronic Stability Control (ESC). He has continued to promote the matter through his membership of initiatives such as CARS 21, the European Commission’s policy group aimed at improving the worldwide competitiveness of the European automotive industry.

In recognition of his contribution to road safety and motorsport Mosley was made a Chevalier dans l’Ordre de la Légion d’Honneur in 2006. The Legion d'Honneur (Legion of Honour) is France's highest decoration for outstanding achievements in military or civil life, a Chevalier (Knight) is the fifth class.

Retirement

In June 2004, Mosley announced that he would step down from his position in October of that year. However, in July 2004 he rescinded his decision after the FIA Senate called for him to stay on. His current term expires in October 2009 although there was speculation that he would step down before that. Many insiders believed that Mosley's announced retirement was just part of a well crafted plan to strengthen his and Bernie Ecclestone's control over the sport, with Ron Dennis suggesting that it was due to Mosley's proposals for Formula One meeting opposition.

At the start of 2008 Mosley said that he wanted to see through reforms such as budget capping and new technologies like KERS successfully introduced into Formula One before retiring. He has been quoted as saying "Provided I remain relatively sane I won’t quit before October 2009." In 2004 Mosley let it be known that he felt that Ferrari's then-team principal Jean Todt should succeed him as president of the FIA when he stepped down.

Criticism

During Mosley’s Presidency of the FIA there have been several controversial events that have often generated criticism and calls for him to resign. Of the criticism aimed at him Mosley has said: "I don’t mind flak – I come from a family where we have had flak all our lives – but I realise some people do. I love reading the blogs when they are being furious about me, it’s very entertaining, and there is the odd one which defends me. But F1 simply cannot divorce itself from the zeitgeist." Mosley and the FIA have been accused on several occasions in recent years by British journalists and Formula One team owners of favouring the Ferrari team through their judgements. Mosley himself believes that "the line in the UK is – how could you be so beastly to [British team] McLaren? And the line on the continent is – you favour McLaren and [their driver] Hamilton, or you’re trying to make sure a Brit wins the championship."

2005 United States Grand Prix

Main article: 2005 United States Grand Prix

Formula One Fans at the controversial 2005 United States Grand Prix holding a banner with the words "Blame Mosley"

The 2005 United States Grand Prix was run with only six cars, after the Michelin tyres used by the other 16 cars proved unsafe for the circuit. A proposal involving the addition of a temporary chicane to slow cars through the fastest corner of the circuit was rejected by Mosley. This effectively forced the teams running Michelin tyres to pull out for safety reasons. Paul Stoddart, the then-owner of the Minardi team, was prepared to compromise to accommodate Michelin teams and was particularly vocal in his criticism and renewed his calls for Mosley to resign.

2007 Formula One espionage controversy

Main article: 2007 Formula One espionage controversy

The 2007 Formula One season was dominated by Ferrari's accusations that the McLaren team had made illegal use of their intellectual property, leading to legal cases in the United Kingdom and Italy. Unlike previous cases, such as the Toyota team's illegal use of Ferrari intellectual property in 2004, the FIA investigated the case and eventually fined McLaren a net $100M and excluded the team from the 2007 constructors' championship. Later in the year, the Renault team were found guilty by the FIA of using McLaren intellectual property, but were not punished. Many British Formula One commentators thought that the FIA had been inconsistent in their judgements and some have felt under pressure from the FIA not to comment negatively on the issue. ITV commentator and Times columnist Martin Brundle subsequently received a writ from Mosley and the FIA for questioning the "energetic manner" in which he felt Mosley was pursuing McLaren.

Following the racist abuse aimed at McLaren's mixed-race driver Lewis Hamilton during testing ahead of the 2008 season, Mosley has said he will impose immediate sanctions if there is a repeat.

"Nazi orgy" allegations

On 30 March 2008 the News of the World, a British tabloid newspaper, reported that Mosley engaged in sexual acts with five prostitutes in a scenario that involved Nazi role-playing. The Times reported a call for his resignation from the director of the Holocaust Centre. Sir Stirling Moss stated that despite his wish for Mosley to stay, he believed his position to be untenable. ITV commentator and Sunday Times columnist Martin Brundle who was recently the subject of a libel action brought by Mosley, said "It’s not appropriate behaviour for the head of any global body such as the FIA." Mosley received the support of Bernie Ecclestone who said "Assuming it's all true, what people do privately is up to them. I don't honestly believe [it] affects the sport in any way. Knowing Max it might be all a bit of a joke. You know, it's one of those things where he's sort of taking the p***, rather than anything against Jewish people."

On 31 March, Ecclestone continued to argue that Mosley should not resign, but said it would be inappropriate for him to attend the next F1 event, the 2008 Bahrain Grand Prix. The Times reported concern among some major car manufacturers who own F1 teams:

"...there was particular disgust in Germany where BMW and Mercedes-Benz are based, over the Nazi element in Mr Mosley’s conduct. The story is also believed to have dismayed senior figures in the Japanese companies, Toyota and Honda, who have strict rules on personal and official morality.

One leading figure in a Japanese Formula One team said he did not believe it was possible for Mr Mosley to continue and that the groundswell of feeling against him would grow, not ebb away, as the week progressed. 'It’s a credibility and judgment issue – fantasising about one of the greatest tragedies of the 20th century is obviously completely inappropriate.'"

Mosley is pursuing legal action against the News of the World and has succeeded in having a related video removed from the paper's website.

References

Books

• Dorril, Stephen (2006). Blackshirt. Penguin. ISBN 978-0-140-25821-9.
• Grundy, Trevor (1999). Memoirs of a fascist childhood. Arrow Books. ISBN 0-09-927179-6.
• Henry, Alan (1992). Driving Forces: fifty men who have shaped motor racing. Yeovil: Patrick Stephens Limited. ISBN 1-85260-302-X.
• Jones, Nigel (2004). Mosley. Haus Publishing Ltd. ISBN 1-904341-09-8.
• Lawrence, Mike (1989). The Story of March - Four guys and a telephone. Aston Publications Ltd. ISBN 0-946627-24-X.
• Lovell, Terry (2004). Bernie's Game. Metro Books. ISBN 1843580861.
• Mosley, Oswald (1970). My Life. London: Nelson. ISBN 0-904816-00-1.
• Nye, Doug (1986). Autocourse history of the Grand Prix car 1966–85. Hazleton publishing. ISBN 0-905138-37-6.
• Rawnsley, Andrew (2001). Servants of The People. London: Penguin Books. ISBN 0-140-27850-8.

Newspapers

• Howell, Norman (October 9, 1991). "Mosley optimistic in challenge to president of Fisa". The Times. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
• Howell, Norman (October 10, 1991). "Balestre deposed as Fisa president". The Times. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
• "Union Movement choice for Moss Side". The Times. September 26, 1961. p. 7. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

External links

• Max Mosley interview on HARDtalk. BBC News Retrieved 13 January 2008.
• The main men in F1. BBC Sport Retrieved 11 October 2004.
• The Persuader (PDF). The Paddock Retrieved 13 January 2008.

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