Max Mosley, unperturbed by F1 gently collapsing around him, has insisted that he has "no option" but to stand for re-election as FIA President, describing in a letter to the FIA members the 'unjustified attack' from the FOTA teams.
Mosley has written to the FIA member clubs ahead of a key meeting of the World Motor Sports Council tomorrow in Paris. At this meeting, the FIA will work out a reaction to the FOTA team's breakaway series threat. In the letter, Mosley said that it was up to the members of the FIA whether or not to keep him on as President of the governing body, in order to help resolve the ongoing threat to F1's future.
The letter states that: "Over recent weeks it has become increasingly clear that one of the objectives of the dissident teams is that I should resign as president of the FIA. Last year you offered me your confidence and, as I wrote to you on May 16, 2008, it was my intention not to seek re-election in October this year,
"However, in light of the attack on the mandate you have entrusted to me, I must now reflect on whether my original decision not to stand for re-election was indeed the right one. It is for the FIA membership, and the FIA membership alone, to decide on its democratically elected leadership, not the motor industry and still less the individuals the industry employs to run its Formula 1 teams."
Mosley defended himself from the current crisis, which has seen the European car industry association ACEA call for Mosley to stand down, and said that the efforts by the manufacturers and other teams to force their will on the sport was a "direct challenge to the entire structure of the FIA."
He continued: "No president of the FIA could allow this to go unanswered...we are also preparing legal proceedings in case these are needed to protect the FIA's rights in its Championship and to discourage any dissident Formula 1 team from engaging in illegal acts." This part was despite Mosley saying over the weekend that he would drop the legal case against FOTA in order to facilitate renewed negotiation.
Mosley did at least presciently point out the main issue facing the FOTA coven as they pressed on with plans to set up a new series from scratch, namely the massive cost of doing so, something that Daddy Toyota, BMW, et al may not be entirely happy about given the multi-million pound losses the companies are currently making in the global financial mess.
"The catalyst for the current dispute was the FIA's attempts to reduce costs in Formula 1. A reduction in costs is essential if the independent teams are to survive. Without the independent teams, the championship would depend entirely on the car manufacturers who, of course, have always come and gone as it suited them.
"It is extraordinary that at a time when all five manufacturers involved are in great financial difficulty and relying on taxpayers money, their Formula 1 teams should threaten a breakaway series in order to avoid reducing their Formula 1 costs. It remains to be seen whether the boards of the parent companies will allow precious resources to be wasted in this way."
Whether or not the FIA are willing to continue to waste precious resources on Max Mosley will be answered in tomorrow's meeting.
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