I have avoided talking about Max Mosley for over a week now. Our interest is motor sport, after all, and the business of Mosley's survival or fall is subsidiary to that, as important for the future of the FIA as it is. With the meeting that decides his fate only a day away, it is time to return to the subject, however.
Max Mosley
Last week there were letters flying everywhere, calls for Mosley's resignation from FIA member organizations, refusals from Max himself, and an interview with Bernie Ecclestone that made it clear that he has abandoned his old friend. Mosley extended his campaign to focus attention away from his activities by starting a court case against the News of the World in France and Jackie Stewart today withdrew his libel case against Max, reluctant to descend to to his level of sordid behavior.
Max claims to have made the decision to stay because of the large number of letters he received from FIA members asking him to remain; at the same time, many of the largest organizations have written openly that he should go. It is difficult to see how these can both be true but the answer may lie in the voting system of the FIA - each delegate has one vote, regardless of the size of the organization he represents.
So it may be that Max has succeeded in bullying large numbers of smaller organizations into supporting his cause while the larger members, less susceptible to possible consequences of rebellion, have proved impossible to coerce. But whatever the truth, the fact remains that the vote is extremely hard to predict (and many have tried). At times it looks as though Max will survive, at others he looks doomed.
One thing is clear, however: to rage against the publication of Max's activities is to miss the point entirely. The News of the World was doing its job - to find and blazen forth the most sordid stories around. We may disapprove but the fact is that some publications exist purely for this purpose and the only reason Max is making a fuss about them now is because he is the one that has been bitten. Aspects of the matter may have been illegal but that is a personal issue between Max and the newspaper - and he is taking the right course of action to prove his view in that matter. It really has no bearing on the question of his ability to carry on as FIA President, however; that rests entirely on whether his conduct, as revealed, is prejudicial to the FIA and to the performance of his job.
It is entirely possible that the vote tomorrow may result in a split from the FIA by the larger motoring organizations. They have already been seen to be moving in that direction, as pointed out by Mosley in his defense, and their determination not to be associated with Max may cause them to proceed with this if Mosley remains in power. With them would go much of the FIA's political clout. If the FIA wants to continue in its present form, it had better hope for a vote of no confidence tomorrow.
But, even if that happens, there will remain the danger of a split and any incoming president will have to attend to this pretty smartly. The amalgamation of all FIA businesses under one heading is the cause of the problem, there being so little in common between its two main arms that it never made sense to govern them as one. They need to be separated again and given their own governing bodies, each with a vice president who understands their different concerns and the FIA president should have an overseeing role only.
So, once again, I am talking about restructuring of the FIA. Included within that should be consideration of just who gets represented on the motor sport governing body. The national organizations have proved ineffective in seeking the best interests of international motor sport and it is time to consider finding representatives from the participants in the various branches of the sport. They are the ones who will suffer most from any bad decision-making, after all, and so are most likely to be careful about changes made.
Whether any of this happens remains to be seen, of course. What we can say, however, is that Tuesday's meeting is extremely important to the future of motor sport and we have good reason to be interested in the fate of Max Mosley. In my opinion, he should have resigned immediately and has done nothing but harm to the FIA in hanging on obstinately. He has made the point that there are serious matters confronting F1 in particular in the coming months, with the spurious claim that he is the only one who can handle them. The truth is that yes, there are important issues to be dealt with, but Max is not the right person to represent the FIA in them - his own actions have disqualified him.
Let the vote go against him and we will see what caliber of man is chosen to succeed him. From the names being suggested at the moment, I would say that there is some hope of the right man being found and, if that happens, we can look forward to a period of motor sport governance far more glorious than the disputatious saga of Mosley's years.