The F1 press smelled a rat on Thursday afternoon, when figures in the official FIA press conference were asked to comment on Max Mosley’s presence at Monaco.
It is suspected that Richard Woods, the FIA official who has been at the side of the beleaguered president throughout his swift movements in the paddock so far this weekend, specifically reminded press conference moderator Bob Constanduros to put the question.
Another suspicious element were the selected figures on Thursday’s press conference panel: representatives for Ferrari, Red Bull and Williams - all of whom have contractually sided with the FIA for the future - and Force India’s Vijay Mallya, also chief of India’s motor racing bodies.
Personal friend Gerhard Berger, meanwhile - who is known to have gone on skiing trips with Mosley in the past - was the first to comment on the sex scandal.
“I think it’s an entirely private thing. It’s something that has happened with grown-up people, nothing which is against the law and I have to say I’m very surprised how many angels there are around in formula one,” he said.
“Suddenly everyone seems to be very clean and very nice,” the Austrian, a former grand prix winner, added.
“But to connect this to the job of Max Mosley, as an FIA president, I don’t think is right. I’ve been in formula one a long time now. I think there are very few people – maybe nobody – who has had such an impact on safety for motor sport as Max.”
Berger went on to detail Mosley’s admirable reaction to the 1994 Imola fatalities, and the improvements to circuit, car, and even road car safety.
“I think it’s not fair to see it through the glasses as some people have tried to see it at the moment. I think it should be totally decided by the automobile clubs and by himself, how the future of the FIA goes, but it should not be run by newspapers or us,” he added.
“I just know one thing: the sport needs a strong guy, a competitive guy, a strong guy who understands the business, and we definitely have this with Max and hopefully we will have in the future. That’s all I want to say.”
Red Bull boss Christian Horner agreed that Mosley has “done many, many good things”.
Bookmark to:
- Mosley to attend Monaco GP next month
- Mosley apologises, denies ‘Nazi’ sex orgy
- Todt on pole for Mosley’s job
- Mosley stripped of official status for Monaco
- Mosley likely to survive June 3 vote
The other interesting thing about the matter is that of all the team principals, Mallya is the only one who has a vote on June 3rd…
…is there any worries in your mind about the June 3rd vote
issue Alianora…?
…after legals & morals debates are put aside,(and I think we
should not), who, in a glogal legislative body, would agree to
be represented, by a «gent» necessarely associated with pimps
and guess who else, sort of «not so endangered shadowy species»..?
Gerhard Berger went on and on and on ending with,
“That’s all I want to say.”
“….the sport needs a strong guy, a competitive guy, a strong guy who understands the business, and we definitely have this with Max ” REALLY?
Ban this, ban that, ‘go green’; “under stands the BUSINESS”? Me thinks Mr. Berger has drunk too much Red Bull.
I think part of the problem is too many people understand the business of F1 and not enough people understand that it is a SPORT with a history and many traditions which have value and need to be preserved. Certainly its nice to expand F1 into new markets, but not at the expense of races and venues that have 50 or more years of history behind them.
…Lonny, I would lllove to live in a romantic world, where still
today, all teams would share the same, sort of circus tent, as they
use to do back when I first attend GPs…
…today, some teams spend over $400 millions a year…how to
reconciliate these to notions…
…we are all fed-up with these ciber-razor over-designed circuits,
supposely so technical, so perfect it even produce yawnings…
…best audience of the year: Monaco… says it all…?
Got it right on the mark. There is excellent racing in the Rolex Grand American series, yet the cars are cheap, low tech and really not very fast. And they will race just about anywhere, without bad mouthing a classic circuit like Road America just because it isn’t the Taj Mahal.
…we were attending two of these Grand-Am races last year…
and planing for more this year, add up a few ALMS ones…plus,
here is «The United League» that will certainly drive us a few
miles away from home…needless to say, the no-tickets-pitpass-
marshalls-crowd-control attitude of the Vintages, lesser series
( read Atlantic ) & SCCA’s are a plus…
…by the way, Road America IS the Taj Mahal…!!!
My kind of guy!!