23/06/2009
NEWS STORY
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While Jackie Stewart might have brushed off Max Mosley's description of him as a "certifiable idiot", Flavio Briatore is not quite as forgiving.
The Italian, who is not someone you would want to get on the wrong side of, is angry at some of the comments made over the Silverstone weekend.
Mosley suggesting that the 'rebel' team bosses were "loonies" was one thing, but the Englishman's claim that Briatore sees himself as the next F1 supremo, had the Italian seething.
"Max is going personal but I'm too much of a gentleman to go personal," said the Renault team boss. "If he wants to go personal, I have a lot to say about Max. He needs to stop insulting people."
Referring to the sex scandal which almost toppled the FIA President last year, the Italian added: "I don't want to personally describe what Max is because in his private life we have already had a demonstration of what he was in the News of the World. If he is talking about lunatics and stuff like that, he needs to watch himself. It's enough."
Mosley has since claimed that the "loonies" comment was a joke, and while none of the team bosses he was referring to see the joke, it is a further sign that the FIA President is on the back foot.
On Friday, in reaction to FOTA's announcement that it was to proceed with its own breakaway series, Mosley responded by saying he would take legal action. Less than 24 hours later he revealed that there would be no action, claiming that talking is better than litigation.
There is now growing speculation that if the teams make a compromise he will decide not to stand again for the FIA Presidency, though there is no doubt the teams would want that in a cast iron legal document. Furthermore, they would probably want him to take his entire dictatorial, bullying regime with him.
Of course, despite the claims that the FIA Presidency is an internal matter, faced with losing billions, Bernie Ecclestone and CVC might take matters in to their own hands.
Every day, more journalists are finally sticking their head above the parapet, admitting publicly what they'd been saying privately for so long, that Mosley's governance of the sport is destroying it and that the Englishman must go for the good of F1.