Posted on April 01, 2008 by F1Wolf

Two days have passed since Max Mosley made the news for all the wrong reasons. What happened since then ? Simply put, the pressure on Mosley is mounting.

Mosley succeeded and having the photos and video removed from YouTube and The News Of The World site. The mainstream F1 sites broke the radio silence and published the story. All of them at about the same like if on command from somebody … And then various F1 figures began to voice their oppinions on the matter. Here is the collection:

Bernie Ecclestone:

“I’ve known him an awful long time. If somebody had told me this without the evidence I would have found it difficult to believe. Assuming it’s all true, what people do privately is up to them. I don’t honestly believe [it] affects the sport in any way. Knowing Max it might be all a bit of a joke. You know, it’s one of those things where he’s sort of taking the p***, rather than anything against Jewish people.”

and Bernie Ecclestone again on comments that Mosley may cancel travel to Bahrain:

“He shouldn’t go, should he? The problem is he would take all the ink away from the race and put it on something which, honestly and truly, is nobody else’s business anyway.”

… and Bernie Ecclestone on future of Max Mosley (for The Times)

“What Max should do is what he thinks is right because it is only him that’s involved, not the FIA. He must do what he believes, in his heart of hearts, is the right thing. If Max was in bed with two hookers, they’d say ‘good for you or something like that’. But this, as it is, people find it repulsive. I think that’s the problem. The trouble with Max is he’s been brave and there is bravado at the moment, but I don’t think it’s going to be easy. And if he starts to sue, from what I understand, the chances of him winning would be slim and, the trouble is, it’s just a lot more ink for the press.”

Sir Jackie Stewart (not a best friend of Max)

“Frankly I don’t think it is for me to comment, I would rather hear what he has to say. I just think he has to look very carefully at it and address his future.”

Martin Brundle

“It’s not appropriate behaviour for the head of any global body.”

Jody Scheckter

“You can’t have somebody like this running the sport, or any other sport come to that. I really think he ought to go and I would like to see the press having a concerted campaign to persuade him to do just that.”

Sir Stirling Moss

“I don’t see how he can continue. I hope he can, frankly, because I think he’s very good at what he does. I suppose what goes on behind closed doors is his business but when a thing comes out like this . . . it’s an absolute shocker.”

A leading figure in “A Japanese F1 team”:

“It’s a credibility and judgment issue – fantasising about one of the greatest tragedies of the 20th century is obviously completely inappropriate.”

The last quote points out the most important issue of this whole mess. The issue that those who claim that what one does behind closed doors is his/her private matter seem to forget…

Well, it does not look like Mosley is going to travel to Bahrain this weeked. It does however start to look like Mosley’s days as FIA boss are numbered. It would be in the best interest of Formula 1 if this “gate” ends quickly. The FIA president can himself end it right away. And FIA president should always act in the best interests of Formula 1 …