Many have wondered where Bernie Ecclestone stands on the Mosley issue. Many have considered their long-term friendship and if Bernie would support Max or throw him overboard.In a move that can only be described as nihilistic; Max released his letter to FIA member organizations all but calling Bernie Ecclestone and CVC out as the bad guys in league to scuttle the FIA and seize control of F1.
I was perplexed by the move at the time and must say, I still am to some degree. Calling Bernie out as a bad guy can’t be a good move irrespective of your tenuous position as FIA President. While Bernie has supported Max, even though that defense had a punishing lack of ardency to it, Max chose to call Bernie out and place him in a suspect position.
Bernie answered with his own letter to FIA members. But after all the questions and contemplation, Bernie has told the Telegraph what he really thinks.
“Poor old Max. I feel sorry for him,” Ecclestone said. “Everybody’s wrong except him. Everybody was involved in the orgy except him. He is just lashing out at anything he can. If he wants me to be the enemy he should be very careful because if he makes me an enemy I could make sure that he never whips anybody again.
“People have asked me to do that but I’ve been reluctant to say anything. But if he did try to do something bad to hurt me personally I would come out of the closet kicking and screaming.
“What he says in the letter is wrong. He is saying ‘you have to keep me, I’m the only one who can do the job’. There are 222 clubs. That is what the FIA does, it administers clubs. The FIA could not function without F1. What Max is saying to the clubs is that they are idiots, that not one of them could do the job. I’d be insulted if I were them. Normally Max is more together instead of making silly, outrageous mistakes. Somebody from one of the more important clubs rang me to speak about the letter. He thought it was outrageous.”
And then the Times own Gorman reports:
The new call for Mosley’s resignation came to light in a letter from Setsuo Tanaka, the Japan Automobile Federation president, to other FIA member clubs that was leaked yesterday. In it, Tanaka reveals that members of the World Council for Automobile Mobility and Tourism (WCAMT), a key governing body within the FIA, met recently in Antwerp, Belgium, and agreed unanimously to mandate two of their number to persuade Mosley to stand down.
Tanaka told the member clubs that the WCAMT had also unanimously agreed that there should not be any sort of ballot on Mosley’s position when the full membership of the FIA meets on June 3. In a neat summation of the biggest crisis faced by the FIA, as a result of Mosley’s refusal to bow to widespread calls for his resignation, Tanaka wrote: “We should avoid a vote of confidence … because if President Mosley would get no confidence it would mean disaster for him and, on the contrary, if President Mosley would get confidence, it would mean disaster for the FIA.â€
