Former FIA president Max Mosley has said that he was prepared to 'chance it' over his controversial plans for an F1 budget cap, but withdrew the plans after Ferrari showed 'loyalty' to him during his legal spat with the News of the World.
The budget cap proposals were suggested by Mosley during the 2009 season, with the Englishman wanting to see the introduction of a strict limit to team spending per season in order to level the playing field between rich and poor teams.The plans threatened to tear the sport apart, with the teams themselves threatening to form a breakaway rival series over the idea.
But Mosley has explained in an interview with the Auto Moto und Sport publication that he would have been prepared to call the team's bluff over the issue and press on with the plans for a budget cap had it not been for Ferrari's support in his legal case.
Mosley said that the Italian team were the only team that stayed "loyal" to him after he took the Mews of the World newspaper to court following the publication of a 'sex scandal' involving Mosley.
"My plan was to go through with it with the other teams, with Ferrari threatening to withdraw. I would have chanced it because we all know they wouldn't really have gone," Mosley bullishly suggested regarding his budget cap plan.
He went on to say: "But then came the affair with the [News of the World] newspaper. Ferrari was the only team that stayed loyal, so I couldn't really do something like that to them."
Mosley won his case in the High Court in London back in July 2008, after he brought a case against the tabloid newspaper for invasion of privacy after the publication of the story that he had taken part in a sado-masochistic sex party.
In the wide-ranging interview with the German publication, Mosley also suggested that it was still too early to judge the success of his successor as FIA president, Jean Todt.
"This season was very good, but it is a time of transition. I think we'll only be able to assess Jean Todt in another year," Mosley muttered regarding the Frenchman.
Todt has enjoyed a relatively trouble-free debut season as the governing body's leader, with the Formula One teams largely failing to pull too many hissy fits throughout the year.
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