Posted by Maurice Hamiton at 3:50PM on Thursday 03 April, 2008 11 Comments
It's just as well F1 cars don't run on a Thursday. The noise would have severely disrupted the gossip tearing faster through the Sakhir paddock than Kimi Raikkonen on his way to a bit of R+R after a race.
The Max Mosley affair had dominated conversation ever since his colourful and controversial role in Sunday's News of the World. Once the Storm Force 10 created by allegations over his extra-curricular conduct had reduced to a mere Gale Force 8, the next question concerned the FIA president's future. The answer was not long in coming this morning.
'The Times' - unhappily for Mosley, the 'paper of record' (his words) he enjoys, or used to enjoy - carried extracts from a personal letter from the Crown Prince of Bahrain, explaining to Mosley that he would not be welcome. Talk about a slap in the face for a man who, prior to this, had said he might not be able to visit the Middle East due to discussions with his lawyers. Not only had the decision been made for him but this letter also opened the flood gates.
The F1 world had been maintaining the usual awkward silence, interrupted only by sound of shuffling for a more comfortable position on the fence. In fact, the teams - particularly those of German extraction and therefore most affected by the NoW's allegation that Mosley's activities could be interpreted as having an association with Nazism - had been waiting to see if the president would take the honourable course and resign. When, predictably, the proud patrician failed to do so, BMW and Mercedes-Benz were the first to make a statement abhorring his behaviour. Toyota and Honda quickly followed, the latter asking the FIA what they intended to do about their president.
The ball had barely landed on Mosley's side of the net when he returned a vicious smash that went clean out of court. Speaking to Reuters, Mosley said: 'Given the history of BMW and Mercedes Benz, particularly before and during the Second World War, I fully understand why they would wish to strongly distance themselves from what they rightly describe as the disgraceful content of these publications. Unfortunately, they did not contact me before putting out their statement to ask whether the content was in fact true.' Clearly, Max is a believer in Basil Fawlty's famous line: 'I mentioned the war once, but I think I got away with it.' Not this time, Max; not this time.
If the F1 denizens had not been stunned before, they were now. A trawl of the paddock here could barely find a word in Mosley's favour. There was a view that the NoW had been reprehensible when dealing with what was an entirely private matter; it was not as if Mosley had been goose-stepping around Trafalgar Square with his willy hanging out.
The trouble is, whether or not you agree with the newspaper's methods, the story is now in the public domain. If Mosley wants to enjoy the company of five hookers in private, good luck to him. But even if the Nazi overtones have been wholly fabricated by the NoW as Mosely says, then the arbiter of what is right and wrong in motorsport, the man who accused McLaren of 'polluting' the F1 World Championship, has scarcely been acting in a presidential manner.
11 Comments for "F1 Bahrain preview"
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As they say, life is like a wheel: sometimes you're up and sometimes you're down. This is nowhere more applicable than in F1. Now it's Mosley's turn... to GO.
Now THAT'S more like it. Well done fearless Maurice. Your allusion to Basil Fawlty is, if anything, on the kind side...
You can't have the head of a worldwide organisation exposed in this manner. Mosley has no alternative but to resign. Certainly nobody is going to take anything he says seriously any more.
MM should drop his arrogant attitude, and simply apologise and walk away. QUICKLY.
Bahrain has made the right choice and other countries should follow.
It really does seem like Max has made a supreme gaff here. If he'd just let what BMW and Mercedes said hang out in the media for a bit, the attention would eventually have shifted. Instead he's come out with all guns blazing and made himself look like a total git.
All he's done is feed the media beast which will now have enough energy to run for a few more news cycles.
Pot. Kettle. Black. Three words Max seems not to know.
Questions the press should ask themselves:
Is Max good at his job?
Is his private life ILLEGAL?
Has he allowed his private life to detrimentally influence motorsport?
Is his private life any of our business?
Provided he is not breaking the law, I couldn't care less!!!
If it were me, I'd replace most of the FIA board.
Max Mosely has been a controversial figure in F1 for a while. Much as I dislike using someone's (very) private actions against them. He should have gone a long time ago and this is just another reason to get rid of him.
At last someone has spoken out in a proper manner about this ghastly 'Mad Max' affair. Hopefully sense will continue to prevail and he will resign. But I guess we don't hold our our breath.