Author: Bob Cartwright
FIA President Max Mosley, a resident of Monaco, is battling to keep his job after the allegations published in the British tabloids about his sex life. Unfortunately for all, it is feared that the issue might overshadow the glitz of the Monaco Grand Prix this weekend.
The FIA president faces a confidence vote in Paris on June 3 but seems to have a looming problem as the sleaze allegations have not disappeared as he would have hoped.
Mosley will be in Monaco this weekend making his first appearance at a Formula 1 race since the UK's News of the World broke the news that he was in an orgy with five prostitutes that involved Nazi role-playing. This was particularly sensitive given that Mosley's father was the British Fascist leader in the 1930s, Sir Oswald Mosley.
Hopes that Max Mosley could use the Monaco Grand Prix for some friendly photo shoots look doomed by the fact that many of the F1 teams and their sponsors will be trying to avoid him.
The latest twist in the scandal was the news in British newspapers this past weekend that an MI5 spy had been forced to resign after his bosses discovered his wife was one of the prostitutes involved in the orgy! James Bond's creator Ian Fleming could hardly have made up a better story.
Mosley is reported to have lobbied FIA members by issuing warnings about Formula One's future if he has to relinquish his post. In a letter released at the weekend, he has warned FIA members that it could lose its already loose grip on the sport if he is forced out. He argues that the FIA was renegotiating the commercial rights to F1 -- owned by Bernie Ecclestone's Formula One Management -- and there was a chance it could lose its governance powers.