18/02/2008
NEWS STORY
Speaking to Richard Rae of The Sunday Times, Max Mosley has admitted that he is no rush to quit his job as FIA President , saying that there is still much work to be done.
Following a difficult year in 2007, when the eyes of the world were on the sport's governing body, mainly as a result of the spy saga(s), but also due to a number of issues regarding individual races, Mosley often found himself in the spotlight, getting flak from all sides. While others might have baulked under the pressure, Mosley dug in.
"Provided I remain relatively sane I won't quit before October 2009," said the Englishman, "beyond that I have to think very, very carefully. There is a tendency to stay a little bit too long, especially when things seem to be going relatively well. But this is a sport which you almost certainly have to conclude works best with one person capable of taking a decision. A disinterested person, capable of understanding the issues, with very good advisors and prepared to listen to everybody, with absolute separation from the judiciary."
With regards the criticism from fans, the Englishman being a regular source of (heated) debate on message boards, Mosley admits that he is well aware of the endless discussion and actually enjoys it.
"I don't mind flak," he said, "I come from a family where we have had flak all our lives, but I realise some people do. I love reading the blogs when they are being furious about me, it's very entertaining, and there is the odd one which defends me. But F1 simply cannot divorce itself from the zeitgeist."
Aged sixty-seven, should he opt to run for re-election in 2009, he would serve until 2013. Despite the prospect of running the sport into his eighties, Mosley insists there is still much to do, particularly with regards the financial and environmental issues that the sport must address.
"Before retiring I absolutely want to see KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System) working," he admitted, "and to see a clear path to coming up with an ultra-modern high-tech engine for 2013.
"Technologies such as this will make it easier for the F1-friendly people in the big manufacturers to justify their continued involvement in the sport," he added, "because if it accelerates the introduction into road cars, then obviously it's good for society, and very, very good for the manufacturers."
And as for the money...
"One of the big manufacturers said if we can get the budgets down, so they are not having to spend €200m, but €50m or less, they'd be in the sport for ever," said Mosley. "But if they keep on having to spend big, they have to be winning, and clearly they can't all win.
"It's absurd that teams spend vast amounts scratching around for tiny gains," ho continued. "Running wind-tunnels night and day, using huge amounts of power, to find a tenth of a second can't be justified. That's what's so sad about F1 at the moment. But thinking of something really clever which doesn't cost a lot of money is one of the skills of engineering. The attraction for me of the cap is that it gives you the maximum freedom without giving you the maximum budget."
Despite fan criticism that he is stifling the racing - something he will have seen when trawling the message boards - Mosley is confident that the sport's raison d'etre, the racing, will continue to improve.
"Teams are supposed to reduce downforce on their cars by 50% for 2009, which should make overtaking much easier. All that complex bodywork works very well in still air, but once in another car's slipstream, it doesn't work. But I've seen it all before, and I'm deeply suspicious the 50% won't be 50% when the time comes. But because we control the tyres, we can just reduce the grip. I can say to Bridgestone, 'Make them harder'. If we went far enough with that, the cars would start sliding around again."