Max Mosley

Max Rufus Mosley (born 1940, London, England) is currently serving his fourth term as president of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), a non-profit association which represents the interests of motoring organisations and motor car users worldwide. The FIA is also the governing body for international motor sport. Mosley is the fourth son of Sir Oswald Mosley, former leader of the British Union of Fascists, and the second from his second marriage to Diana Mitford. He is a former barrister, amateur racing driver, and a founder and owner of the March racing car constructor and Formula One racing team. He was elected president of the Fédération Internationale du Sport Automobile (FISA) in 1991 and president of the FIA in 1993. He was made a Chevalier dans l’Ordre de la Légion d’Honneur by the French Government in recognition of his contribution to road safety and motor sport^[1].

Early life

Mosley is the son of Sir Oswald Mosley. Before the Second World War Sir Oswald had been a Conservative minister, and a Member of Parliament for both the Conservative and the Labour parties. He was also the leader of the pre-war British Union of Fascists (BUF). Mosley's mother was Sir Oswald's second wife, Diana Mitford. Early in the Second World War, on 23 May 1940, Sir Oswald, who had campaigned for a negotiated peace with Nazi Germany, was interned under Defence Regulation 18B, along with most active fascists in Britain. On June 29, 1940, Diana was also imprisoned, eleven weeks after she gave birth to Max Mosley^[2]. Mosley and his older brother Alexander grew up separated from their parents for the first few years of their lives. Their parents were released from HMP Holloway on 16 November, 1943. The children were refused entry to several schools, due to a combination of their wildness and their parents' reputation, and were initially tutored at home instead. In 1950, the Mosleys bought houses in the Republic of Ireland, and in Orsay, near Paris. The family spent the year moving around Europe, spending the spring in France and the autumn and winter in Ireland,^[3] where Mosley was keen on hunting^[4]. Nancy Mitford recalled in letters to Evelyn Waugh of Sir Oswald and his family cruising the Mediterranean on the family yacht, stopping at Portofino and Marseille, visiting Spain and being entertained by Sir Oswald's friend, General Franco.^[5] At the age of thirteen Mosley was sent to Stein an der Traun in Germany^[6] for two years where he learnt to speak fluent German. On his return to England he was educated at Millfield boarding school. He attended Christ Church, Oxford, graduating with a degree in physics in 1961. During his time at Oxford he was Secretary of the Oxford Union. His father was invited to speak at the Union in 1961. Sir Oswald's presence was opposed, and Mosley campaigned in favour of it under the slogan 'Free speech for fascists'. Mosley shortly afterward introduced his father to Robert Skidelsky, one of Mosley's contemporaries at the university, who would write Sir Oswald's biography.^[7] Mosley went on to study law at Gray's Inn in London, specialising in patent and trademark law, and qualified as a barrister in 1964.^[2]

Early politics

From their teens to early twenties, Mosley and his brother Alexander were involved with their father's post-war party, the Union Movement, which advocated a united Europe as its core issue. Trevor Grundy, a central figure in the Union's Youth Movement, writes of the 16-year-old Mosley—"a tall slim boy, with golden hair...He had a lovely face."—painting the 'circle and flash' symbol on walls in London on the night of the Soviet Union's invasion of Hungary (4 November, 1956).^[8] The symbol was used by both the UM and the pre-war BUF. He also reports Mosley enthusiastically organising a couple of large parties, with live music, as a way "to get in with lively, ordinary, normal young people, girls as well as boys, and attract them to the Movement by showing that we were like them and didn't go on about Hitler and Mussolini, Franco and British Fascism all the time."^[9] When Oswald Mosley ran for the Notting Hill Gate seat in the 1959 General Election, Mosley and Alexander canvassed for their father.^[10] Mosley was later an election agent for the Union Movement, supporting Walter Hesketh as parliamentary candidate for Moss Side in 1962.^[11] The motor racing journalist Alan Henry, in his book Driving Forces (1992), describes the younger Mosley as one of his father's "right-hand men" at the time of a violent incident in 1962, when the fascist leader was knocked down by a mob in London on his way to address a meeting and was saved from serious injury by his son's intervention.^[12][13] As a result of his involvement in this fracas, Mosley junior was arrested and charged with threatening behaviour, being cleared at Old Street Magistrates' Court on the grounds that he was trying to protect his father.^[14] In 1964, Mosley himself was a prospective UM candidate.^[15]

The archived papers of the Indian Workers' Association contain press cuttings of disputes surrounding invitations to Max Mosley to speak at Birmingham University in both 1963 (page 120) and 1964 (page 123), when his invitation was cancelled [1].

Mosley was a member of the Territorial Army during the early 1960s, training as a parachutist. At this time, English newspapers linked Mosley to the French Algerian Organisation de l'armée secrète (OAS) which was involved in the Algerian War.^[14]

Racing career

While Mosley was at University, his wife was given tickets to a race at Silverstone. The circuit was not far from Oxford and the couple went out of curiosity. Mosley was attracted by the sport, and when his career as a barrister was bringing in sufficient money he started racing himself.^[16] The sport's indifference to his background appealed to Mosley: "There was always a certain amount of trouble [being the son of Sir Oswald] until I came into motor racing. And in one of the first races I ever took part in there was a list of people when they put the practice times [...] and I heard somebody say, 'Mosley, Max Mosley, he must be some relation of Alf Mosley, the coachbuilder.' And I thought to myself, 'I've found a world where they don't know about Oswald Mosley.' And it has always been a bit like that in motor racing: nobody gives a darn."^[5] At national level in the UK, Mosley was moderately successful, competing in over 40 races in 1966 and 1967, of which he won 12, and setting several class lap records.^[14] In 1968, he formed the London Racing Team in partnership with Chris Lambert to compete in European Formula Two, the level of racing just below Formula One. Early in the year, Mosley raced in the Formula Two race at Hockenheim at which double world champion Jim Clark was killed. Later the same year, Lambert was killed in an accident at the Zandvoort track and Mosley joined Frank Williams's Formula Two team, racing alongside Piers Courage. His best result that year was an eighth place at a non-championship race at Monza.

March Engineering

Main article: March Engineering

In 1969, after two large accidents due to breakages on his Lotus car, Mosley retired from driving, having decided that "It was evident that I wasn't going to be World Champion."^[5] He was already working with Robin Herd, Alan Rees and Graham Croaker on setting up March Engineering, a racing car manufacturer. Each put in £2,500. Mosley's role was to handle the legal and commercial sides of the business. His father told him that the company "would certainly go bankrupt, but it would be good experience for a later career."^[17]. The name March is a contrived acronym based on the initials of the founders, the 'M' stands for Mosley.^[5]. Mosley played a key role in publicising the new outfit, which had few resources and limited experience, and yet announced ambitious plans to enter Formula One, the pinnacle of single-seater racing, in 1970. Chris Amon was signed to drive, on the understanding that a single car effort in Formula One would be focussed on him. By the beginning of the season, partly due to various deals made by Mosley, the number of March cars entered for the constructors' first Formula One race, the 1970 South African Grand Prix, rose to five, two of which were run by March's own works team.^[18] March Formula One cars won three of their first four races, including one world championship race, the 1970 Spanish Grand Prix won by Jackie Stewart and the Tyrrell team. March finished third in the 1970 Constructors' Championship. The factory also sold 40 cars to customers in various lower formulae, although there were no major wins. Despite the initial success, the organisation got into financial difficulty almost immediately. The Formula One operation was costing more than the customer car business was making. Mosley, in his own words, "tried at every opportunity to get rid of [Amon]" because his contract was costing the team a lot of money.^[19] He reasoned that even without the works lead driver, Stewart's highly competitive Tyrrell-run car would show March in a good light. At the end of the season, Mosley successfully demanded full control of the finances, including the factory run by Croaker, who eventually left. Mosley and Herd borrowed £20,000 from relatives and friends to support the company into its second year. Without Amon or Tyrrell, March's 1971 program was much reduced. Mosley had negotiated sponsorship from tyre maker Firestone and oil additive manufacturer STP for 1970, but failed to attract a large sponsor for the following year. Motorsports author Mike Lawrence has suggested that the shortfall forced Mosley into short team deals, which maintained cashflow, but were not in the best long term interests of the company. Nonetheless, March again finished third in the constructors championship and works driver Ronnie Peterson was second in the drivers' World Championship. The team experimented unsuccessfully with Alfa Romeo engines, but Mosley's hopes of a factory contract, and even consultancy work, were not met. Rees left at the end of the year: the company was even further in debt, and Rees wanted to 'spend to succeed' in Formula One, while Mosley and Herd took the view that they could not spend the money they did not have. March continued in Formula One as a minor team until 1977.^[20] The cars were driven by a large number of drivers, many of whom were paying their way. Marches were also popular with other teams, largely because they were cheap and available. The cars were often towards the back of the grid, although in 1975 and 1976 they were more competitive, and the works team took one win in each year. However, a good relationship with Jochen Neerpasch helped March do an exclusive deal in 1972 to use BMW's Formula Two engine. This was the foundation of a long period of success in the category. In 1976, Mosley, having seen the popularity of Tyrrell's six-wheeled P34 with fans, pressed for a six-wheeled March to be built as a draw for sponsors. The resulting March 2-4-0 never competed in Formula One, but generated the required publicity and a Scalextric slotcar model was profitable.^[21] During the 1977 season, Herd was pressurised by BMW into spending his time on their March-chassised works Formula Two programme. As a result, Mosley had to act as engineer in Formula One for drivers Ian Scheckter and Alex Ribeiro.^[22] The atmosphere between drivers and team was hostile, although Mosley believes he had a good relationship with Scheckter.^[23] By the end of 1977, Mosley was fed up with the struggle to compete in Formula One with no resources and left to work for FOCA full time, selling his shares in the company to Herd but remaining as a director.^[24]

Formula One Constructors Association

Main article: Formula One Constructors Association

From 1969, Mosley was invited to the meetings of the Grand Prix Constructors' Association (the forerunner of the Formula One Constructors Association, FOCA) as a representative of March. Although the brash new constructor was not popular with the established teams, Mosley notes that "when they went along to meetings to discuss things such as prize money, they felt they ought to take me along because I was a lawyer."^[25] Mosley was unimpressed with the standard of negotiations. In 1971 Bernie Ecclestone bought the Brabham team, and Mosley recalls that "Within about 20 minutes of him turning up at the [GPCA] meeting, it was apparent that here was someone who knew how many beans made five and after about half an hour he moved round the table to sit next to me, and from then on he and I started operating as a team. Within a very short time, the two of us were doing everything for the GPCA, instead of everyone moving around in a block, and from that developed FOCA."^[25] FOCA is a union of teams created to defend the teams' rights and maintain their collective control of the sport. At the end of 1977 Mosley officially became legal advisor to FOCA, after leaving March. In the early 1980s Bernie Ecclestone was the president of FOCA and Jean-Marie Balestre president of FISA. The two clashed repeatedly over various regulation and financial issues, fighting for control of the sport. Mosley helped resolve this debate by drawing up the Concorde Agreement, giving FISA control of the rules and FOCA control of promotion and television rights. Shortly thereafter Mosley disappeared from Formula One for three years.

FISA presidency

Main article: Fédération Internationale du Sport Automobile

Mosley returned in 1986 to become president of the FISA Manufacturers' Commission and establish Simtek Research, a racing technical consultancy firm, with Nick Wirth, a former March employee. He sold his share of Simtek in 1991 when he was elected president of the FISA. In 1991, Mosley challenged the incumbent Jean-Marie Balestre for the presidency of FISA. Mosley said that his decision to challenge the Frenchman was prompted by Brazilian driver Ayrton Senna's disqualification from the 1989 Japanese Grand Prix after a collision with his French team mate Alain Prost: "What happened to Ayrton Senna two years ago in Japan, disgusted me, [...]That is when I realised that Fisa was not a fair organisation."^[26] Senna's appeal against the result had resulted in a fine and a six month suspended ban. Mosley campaigned on the basis that Balestre, who was also president of the FIA and of the Fédération Française du Sport Automobile, could not effectively manage all of these roles together. Mosley won by 43 votes to 29. He resigned a year later, fulfilling a promise made during his election campaign to seek a re-affirmation of his mandate. "I wanted to show people that I do what I say," he said. ``Now they can judge me in a year's time."^[27] FISA immediately re-elected him for a four-year term. Balestre remained as FIA president. A restructuring of the FIA in 1993 led to the demise of FISA.

FIA

Main article: FIA

In 1993 he was elected president of the FIA replacing Jean Marie Balestre. The FISA was then merged into the FIA as its sporting arm. He was elected to his second term as president of the FIA in October 1997, his third in 2001 and fourth in 2005^[28]. Mosley and Bernie Ecclestone retain almost absolute authority over Formula One racing. The FIA currently regulates not only the Formula One World Championship, the World Rally Championship, and the FIA GT Championship but also international motor sport generally, all of which appears on the FIA International Calendar. After the deaths of Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger Mosley attended the funeral of Ratzenberger. In a press conference ten years later Mosley said, "I went to his funeral because everyone went to Senna's. I thought it was important that somebody went to his."^[29]

Initiatives

Mosley has said that he wants Formula One to start developing green technology. Continuing a theme of his presidency he has called for Formula One manufacturers to develop technology which is relevant to road cars^[30]. Mosley has announced a 10 year engine freeze which would allow manufacturers to spend more of their budgets on environmentally friendly technology such as Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems (KERS)^[31] that were first introduced into Formula One by McLaren but are currently banned by the FIA^[32].

Retirement

In June 2004 Mosley announced that he would step down from his position in October of that year. However, in July 2004 he rescinded his decision after the FIA Senate called for him to stay on^[33]. His term expires in October 2009 although speculation remains that he will step down before that. Many insiders believe these are just part of a well crafted plan to strengthen his and Bernie Ecclestone's control over the sport, with Ron Dennis suggesting that Mosley announced retirement was due to his proposals for Formula One meeting opposition^[34]. Mosley let it be known that he feels that Jean Todt should succeed him as president of the FIA when he steps down.^[35][36]

Criticism

Formula One Fans at the controversial 2005 United States Grand Prix with a banner with the words 'Blame Mosley' written on it.

Max Mosley was criticised after his decision to prevent changes being made to the circuit during the 2005 United States Grand Prix this effectively forced the teams running Michelin tyres to pull out for safety reasons. Paul Stoddart, the then-owner of the Minardi team who was prepared to compromise to accommodate Michelin teams, was particularly vocal in his criticism and renewed his calls for Mosley to resign^[37]. After the controversial 2007 Formula One season, Sir Jackie Stewart — driver of March's first Grand Prix winner — has called for Mosley's resignation accusing him of making decisions 'detrimental' to the sport.^[38]. Mosley responded by ridiculing Stewart, allegedly calling him a 'certified halfwit' at a journalists' lunch ^[39]. Mosley has twice made personal attacks on people that have criticised him without directly naming the people that he is referring to. Both Ron Dennis^[34] and Jackie Stewart have been attacked in this way.^[40] He has also been accused of having an anti-McLaren agenda, with his historically difficult relationship with Ron Dennis and his recent warning that continued success for Lewis Hamilton may eventually be negative for Formula One due to what he referred to as the "Schumacher effect".^[41]. After the 2007 Formula One espionage controversy Mosley has said he thought that McLaren had been less than honest but denied that he had a problem with Ron Dennis ^[42]. However ITVs Formula One commentator Martin Brundle believes that Mclaren are the victim of a 'Witch-Hunt' pointing to the decision to not impose a penalty on Renault for possessing Mclaren intellectual property as evidence of double standards.^[43] Martin Brundle has received a French writ from Max Mosley and the FIA for questioning the "energetic manner" in which Mosley was pursuing McLaren.^[44] Mosley gave an interview saying that he was relieved that Ferrari's Kimi Räikkönen edged out McLaren's Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso by a point.[2] Mosley's stance on McLaren and other decisions have led to him being nicknamed 'Mad Max' by the Scotsman newspaper^[45]. Mosley has been quoted as saying that "There's a big problem with F1. You can make it absolutely fair, but then it will usually be dull."^[2]

Concorde Agreement

Main article: Concorde Agreement

Over the years, he played a key role in drafting the Concorde Agreement of which the first (1981) version settled the dispute between the independent teams which were primarily UK based, the so-called grandee constructors (Alfa Romeo, Ferrari and Renault) and the FIA. A revised version, signed in 1998, still governs F1 today. This current Concorde Agreement expires on 31 December 2007 and a new one is under active discussion between the teams, the Commercial Rights Holder (Formula One Group) and the FIA. There are now five major car manufacturers involved: BMW, Daimler AG, Honda, Renault and Toyota plus Ferrari, the longest-standing competitor in the Formula One World Championship. All of these plus the five independent teams want agreement and a new Concorde is expected shortly.

Later politics

Mosley has said that "If I had a completely open choice in my life, I would have chosen party politics, but because of my name, that's impossible."^[15] For a time Mosley was interested in becoming a Conservative MP but switched his allegiance to the Labour Party after meeting its then leader, John Smith, in 1994.

Notes

References

Books

• Dorril, Stephen (2006). Blackshirt. Penguin. ISBN 978-0-140-25821-9. 
• Grundy, Trevor (1999). Memoirs of a fascist childhood. Arrow Books. ISBN 0-09-927179-6. 
• Henry, Alan (1992). Driving Forces: fifty men who have shaped motor racing. Yeovil: Patrick Stephens Limited. ISBN 1-85260-302-X. 
• Jones, Nigel (2004). Mosley. Haus Publishing Ltd.. ISBN 1-904341-09-8. 
• Lawrence, Mike (1989). The Story of March - Four guys and a telephone. Aston Publications Ltd.. ISBN 0-946627-24-X. 
• Mosley, Oswald (1970). My Life. London: Nelson. 
• Nye, Doug (1986). Autocourse history of the Grand Prix car 1966–85. Hazleton publishing. ISBN 0-905138-37-6. 

Newspapers

• Howell, Norman. "Mosley optimistic in challenge to president of Fisa", The Times, Oct 9, 1991. 
• Howell, Norman. "Balestre deposed as Fisa president", The Times, Oct 10, 1991. 

External links

• The main men in F1. BBC Sport (11 October 2004).
• [3]. FIA Press Release (28 October 2005).
• [4]. Max's finest hour Grandprix.com