Formula One news

Mosley brands 'dictator' role as 'nonsense'

FIA president Max Mosley was allegedly obliged to quit as president of F1's governing body as part of a trade-off with FOTA to secure the future of the sport last week. Mosley, however, has been left furious by the teams' association's claims, stressing that his future in the post is in the FIA's hands only.

"They made the mistake of dancing on my grave before I was buried," Mosley told The Mail on Sunday. "It's no good the teams getting a PR agency to claim I am dead and buried when I am standing here as large as life. I am under pressure now from all over the world to stand for re-election.

"I do genuinely want to stop. But if there is going to be a big conflict with the car industry, for example, with the FOTA teams, then I won't stop. I will do whatever I have to do. It's not in my nature to walk away from a fight."

The Briton is especially unhappy about the manner in which FOTA chairman Luca di Montezemolo has presented the situation to the Italian media. "By going home to Italy and telling the Italian media that they had toppled the dictator, di Montezemolo has tried to make it sound like I sit here and just decide what's going to happen. It's absolutely not true," Mosley continued.

"I can't do anything unless the WMSC (FIA World Motor Sport Council) agree and there are 26 members, mostly presidents of important motorsport clubs from all over the world. All these rules that I am supposed to have dictated have been voted on by those people. To say that I run a dictatorship is nonsense.

"I don't really expect Luca will apologise or withdraw in the way that he should. Yet, on the other hand, within the motorsport world nobody takes him seriously. He's seen as what the Italians call a "bella figura". He's chairman of Fiat but the serious individual who runs it is Sergio Marchionne, and I don't suppose he takes much notice of Luca."

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