I read often of how intelligent a man is Max Mosley and I have to admit that he seems endlessly capable of surprising us without even a glance at his private life. He is a lawyer, we are told, as though this automatically identifies him as one of the intelligentsia. In fact, lawyers tend to be rather unimaginative in their thinking, being bound to precedent and the perennial inspection of miniscule detail, as they are. And there are bad lawyers as well as good, with no track record for Mosley to enable us to decide which category he fits.
Max Mosley
Then people tell me that he also studied physics at university, as though this must mean that he understands the complexities of F1 car design. But he was also a partner in the failure that was March, an attempt to become a chassis supplier to others that never approached the necessary quality and ingenuity of design. It seems his physics was not quite sufficient to make a difference there.
And now this master of versatility has announced that he wants to see all F1 teams use the same engine, as well as standard suspensions and gearboxes. This will help to cut costs, he says.
It does not seem to have occurred to him that it will also leave the manufacturers with no reason to compete in the sport. Their teams have to justify their existence to their respective boards of directors and the promotional aspect is by far the most important reason for their being in F1. If they are forced to use the same engines as everyone else, what exactly will they be proving about the quality of their road cars and the superiority of their engineering? They would be out of the game before Mosley's standardized engine ever saw the light of day.
In view of the fact that Mosley has already ensured that F1 is dependent upon the manufacturers for its future, this drive towards a spec series (for that is what it is) invites disaster for the sport. The small constructors have been so squeezed that there are only two left, with one customer team facing the enormous expense of becoming a constructor in a year. From where does Mosley imagine new teams will arrive if the manufacturers quit overnight?
The truth is that Mosley's plan is devoid of any clear thinking in connection with the future of F1. It seems that he may be reconsidering his stated intention not to stand again when his term as FIA president expires in September 2009 - and a bigger disaster for the sport cannot be imagined. Time and again he has demonstrated a singular lack of intelligence and an inability to think things through. Increasingly it becomes clear that, without Bernie Ecclestone to tell him what to do, the man is totally unsuited to be in charge of anything connected with motor sport.
The time for him to go was after the Indy debacle of 2005. It was obvious then that he was more interested in his own power than the good of the sport and he should have been ousted from that moment. Even if he does leave at the end of next year, it is likely that the damage he has done already will take years to repair.
It still looks to me as though an alternative series is the only way forward.