Max Mosley said that he wanted to complete his term with the FIA and step down voluntarily next year after 16 years as President.
But his future will be discussed at an extraordinary general meeting of the FIA general assembly in Paris on June 3.
The 68-year-old Mosley has been under pressure to quit. Mosley said he wants to step down in 2009 even if he wins the secret vote by 222 national motoring member organizations from 130 countries.
“If they wish me to continue, I will continue; if they don’t, I’ll stop,” Mosley said. “But I will also say to them that it was always my intention, because it is, that I was never going to go beyond 2009.
“The reason’s very simple. If you stop in 2009, aged 69, you can maybe still do something else useful. Were I to stay on till I was 73, I’d be getting very marginal.”
“It is a question of credibility,” a well-known racing figure said.
“Formula One is a multi-million pound business, and the teams are dealing at main board level with people who are sensitive about the public image of their brands.”
Formula One, once largely subsidised by cigarette companies, is now used as an international branding weapon by companies such as Vodafone who sponsor McLaren, energy drinks firm Red Bull who control two teams, and Chinese computer manufacturers Lenovo who sponsor the Williams team.
These companies, the source added, come into F1 to associate their name with glamour and bravery, not sleazy sexual shenanigans. “I know sponsors and potential sponsors who are aghast at all this,” he added.
But Mosley himself has suggested that “there may be more to this than meets the eye”, and there is no doubt that, notwithstanding the work that he has done to improve safety, there are people within F1 who would be glad to see the back of him.
“It would then be impossible to turn around to all these people, the great majority, and say, ‘No, I’m going to walk away’, even if I’m inclined to,” Mosley said. “But my inclination is to stay and fight.”
Mosley said his wife and two sons were embarrassed by the revelations about his private life but that his “eccentric” behavior has no effect on his suitability for his job.
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