Those race fans, and F1 insiders, who long for the day when Max Mosley says he's going to stand down - and do it, as opposed to the u-turn a couple of years back - will have to wait until October to see if the FIA President will stand for another term.

Talking to journalists, the Englishman, when asked when he would make a decision as to whether to stand again, said: "Probably around October this year. That is when the decision will be made, a year before the election.

"It really depends on how you feel," he added, "what the clubs feel. I would not want to go on doing it for ever."

While there have been many positives during Mosley's 15-year reign, particularly regarding safety, there have also been many negatives, with some claiming a bias in favour of Ferrari, an ambition to turn F1 into a one-make formula, the perceived emasculation of the sport and a desire to run the sport as his own personal fiefdom.

With regards Mosley's decision to stand for another term, which would see him lead the FIA into his seventies, it is thought that his decision could rest on the outcome of the case against The Sunday Times following (former F1 driver, journalist and commentator) Martin Brundle's description of the pursuit of McLaren during the spy saga as a "witch hunt". Then again, many F1 insiders believe that the FIA will never allow the case to go to court and that the move was simply a warning shot across the media's bows.

With regards the spy saga, Mosley still believes that the sport benefited from it, a view contrary to what many fans and insiders believe. "I think it was enhanced by what happened," he said. "It proved that we do take fairness seriously. It was also thanks to the fact that a new driver can come in and do as well as Lewis Hamilton did, so that he became a major figure internationally and boosted the whole thing. It is better and stronger than it was 12 months ago."

Naturally, Mosley couldn't allow the occasion to pass without taking another pot-shot at McLaren boss Ron Dennis: "When somebody you have known for 40 years looks you in the eye and says, 'I am not lying,' it is very hard not to believe them," said the Englishman. "And when dear old Ron said that to me, I had to wonder whether he really knew what was going on in his team."

For those dreading the thought of Mosley leading the sport into the next decade, there is perhaps some comfort in his comment regarding his future ambitions for the sport, which, as he announced recently, include budget-capping, engine freezing and the introduction of energy recovery technology.

"My last big project," he began, "is to get the search for extra horsepower away from making the engines run faster and moving towards KERS, heat recovery, exhaust energy recovery. It is to get F1 to be part of the accelerated development of systems that will be used in the car industry."