'Teams want Mosley ousted to save F1'
Monday 22nd June 2009
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The FOTA teams threatening a breakaway from F1 have reportedly suggested that the removal of Max Mosley as FIA president would herald the sport's much-needed reconciliation.
A plot to remove Mosley will reputedly be led by Ferrari this week at a meeting of the FIA's world council.
According to
The Guardian, 'the removal of Mosley from the presidency of the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) would open the way for negotiations with Bernie Ecclestone, the holder of the sport's commercial rights.'
With the teams publicly insisting that they are pressing ahead with their plans to form a new series, the newspaper reports that behind-the-scenes machinations are already being plotted to oust the Englishman from his position.
'On Wednesday of this week, at a meeting in Paris of the FIA's world motor sport council, Luca di Montezemolo, the president of Ferrari and chairman of the breakaway group, will begin a process aimed at securing the 69-year-old Englishman's departure from a post he has held since 1991, dissuading him from standing for re-election for a sixth term in November in order to prevent the damage likely to be caused to both sides by a split.'
While the dispute between the teams and the governing body is ostensibly over plans to introduce a budget cap next season, the Guardian reports that, 'according to a senior FOTA source, the teams' overriding priority is to rid themselves of Mosley's autocratic style of governance. Widely resented, it finally became intolerable to the bulk of participants in Formula One when he attempted to impose a swath of radical rule changes, in particular a £40m budget cap to take effect next season.'
As PF1 has remarked previously this weekend, Mosley is the ultimate survivor. However, The Guardian cites its source as explaining that, '
Once Mosley has gone', the teams 'will expect Ecclestone to respond to a list of grievances including the refusal to grant them a bigger slice of Formula One's gross income, the insistence on charging such high fees to circuit promoters that ticket prices are unnecessarily inflated, and the failure to establish rounds of the championship in North America, an important market for the major manufacturers.'