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[McLaren Fan]

From F1 Live:

Max Mosley on Wednesday said he feels tempted to stand for a fifth consecutive term as FIA President.

The 68-year-old, embroiled in a umpalumpa scandal last year, has often said he intends to stand down in October, but he now confirms that he is considering contesting the next election.

Mosley told reporters at a media lunch at the Poissonnerie de l'Avenue restaurant in Chelsea that he will make up his mind by June.

Asked if he is tempted to stand for a fifth term, he answered: "Yes. If a lot of people say to you, 'you should stay', it's churlish in a way not to. People have indicated they want to go on with the status quo and that is pretty widespread.”

"That is nice and flattering, but I've got to ask myself if that's what I really want to do," said the Briton.

Figures including former Ferrari boss Jean Todt, and 56-year-old Ari Vatanen, the 1981 world rally champion-turned European parliamentarian, have been named as possible alternatives to Mosley.

Mosley said he expects ‘six or seven’ candidates to be in the running.

"(The role) needs someone with experience to guide Formula One, but it would be presumptuous of me to think that I'm that person," he explained.

Source: GMM
© CAPSIS International

Not really a surprise, so it was just about worth a thread.

[scotty]

Ari Vatanen? That seems pretty random...

[bud]

Dunno whats worse Max or Toad

[Gaz]

Dunno whats worse Max or Toad

better the devil you know i say, Toady is going to be blatlently Ferrari Bias

we know max is but i think Toady will be more.

[Jabberwocky]

but he can not stand, it is my job

I think trying to find anyone that is not bias is going to be hard. I am sure that most people in the upper levels of motor sport have had alliances with someone the past.

[welshie]

Ari has got my vote, the man is a complete legend!

[7UpJordan]

Dunno whats worse Max or Toad

And I don't like Mushrooms either!

Todt would be an extremely bad choice, and we all want rid of Max as it is. In most cases people would choose the lesser of the two evils, but here, neither are any more or less a better choice.

[SarahB62]

I know it seems I am going slightly off topic here, but read the whole article as it is interesting to see Max's vision of the future under this heading ...

BBC Mototsport - Mosley tips Hamilton for F1 crown
By Andrew Benson



Mosley is predicting Hamilton will get his hands on a second drivers' trophy
Motorsport boss Max Mosley has tipped Lewis Hamilton to win a second Formula One world drivers' title in 2009.

F1 commercial boss Bernie Ecclestone said last month he wanted Ferrari's Felipe Massa to win after narrowly missing out to the McLaren man in 2008.

But Mosley said: "If someone said 'here's £100, you have to put it on a driver' you'd probably put it on Lewis.

"But it might be someone unexpected like [BMW Sauber driver Robert] Kubica or [Renault's Fernando] Alonso."

Mosley - the president of motorsport's governing body the FIA - said the huge rule changes being introduced this season meant it was very difficult to predict which teams would be the most competitive when the season starts in Australia on 29 March.

But he said he expected the season to come down in the end to the usual battle between McLaren and Ferrari. 606: DEBATE
Your thoughts on Mosley's future and his F1 vision

And he added that he thought Ferrari were still recovering from the huge leadership change at the team following Michael Schumacher's retirement at the end of 2006.

In the space of a year, team boss Jean Todt, technical director Ross Brawn and chief designer Rory Byrne all left Ferrari.

"McLaren have done a very good job over the winter - everything indicates that," Mosley said.

"And Ferrari are still getting their act together after a very big management change, whereas I don't think the management change at McLaren is as big - there is more continuity."

That is a reference to the decision of Ron Dennis to step down as McLaren team principal on 1 March and hand over to long-time deputy Martin Whitmarsh.

Mosley made his remarks at a pre-season media lunch in London, where he took the opportunity to restate his determination to continue his drive for significant cost-cutting in F1.

A series of measures was agreed with the teams in December, but Mosley wants to go much further and reduce teams' budgets to about 50m Euros (£44m) a year in 2010.
Ferrari were the first team to unveil its 2009 car but Mosley says the team is still struggling after a restructure

Currently, the richest teams are spending as much as six or seven times that amount.

Mosley said the global credit crunch meant F1 was facing its "biggest crisis since I became involved" in the early 1970s.

And he said "employing 1,000 people to put two cars on the grid 17 times a year is ridiculous".

He said he wanted to bring budgets down to the point where a team could be competitive on little more than the prize and appearance money provided by Ecclestone's companies.

"The teams agree in principle," he said, "but they don't want it to happen that quickly."

He said discussions with Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo - the chairman of the F1 Teams' Association (Fota) - were "constant and constructive".

But he insisted that several other teams could follow Honda out of F1 in the coming months if nothing was done.

The Japanese giant pulled out of F1 in December, citing falling car sales and the problems of the global economy.

Mosley put the chances of a buyer emerging to allow the Honda team to race under a new name this year at "about 70%".

But he added that the current high costs meant it was too difficult for new teams to enter F1.

He said a new team from the United States was interested in racing next year - but only if costs were cut dramatically.

"We're trying to make it easy for independent teams to come in but we need to get the costs down quickly," Mosley said.

"I don't think anyone [else] will stop if we reduce costs. If we can arrange it so F1 is profitable, it's very unlikely the [road-car manufacturers] would stop - and the scope for getting costs down is huge." F1 should be solving difficult problems that are relevant to the real world

FIA president Max Mosley

Mosley wants to introduce a number of standard parts, particularly in suspension and gearboxes, but to leave the rules open for innovation in other areas.

He is particularly keen for F1 teams to focus their energies on furthering the understanding of the kinetic energy recovery systems (kers) that are being introduced this season.

These systems - which are similar to those used in so-called hybrid road cars - harness energy that would have been lost during braking and re-apply it when a car is accelerating.

"F1 should be solving difficult problems that are relevant to the real world," Mosley said.

Mosley has previously said he wanted to step down as FIA president when his current term expires in October - but said on Thursday that he was strongly considering running for another four years.

"One has to say it's interesting at the moment and to walk away would be to leave it in a state of uncertainty which wouldn't be satisfactory," said Mosley, who has run the sport since 1991.

"To be frank, an awful lot of people are saying 'you need to stay because of the situation'.

"But 18 years - and it would be four more - is a long time. Do I want to?

"If you stay in something too long, you get a bit stale. If we get a lot of the problems solved between now and then it would be tempting to go."

He said he expected to introduce new rules aimed at securing his desired cost cuts by the spring - "but whether they are agreed is another matter".

[racechick]

They're still considering the poisoned dwarf!!!!! Unbelievable!!