Max and Bernie don't play well together anymore...

[Scott]

...oh, this one could become quite juicy.  For our entertainment sake, I hope it is laundered in public.  Seriously, it seems Max is even trying to take the focus off himself and place it with the man who managed to give him almost everything - Bernie.  Silly boy that Max.  Could he really think he could win against Bernie?  Better men have failed.  If he wants the wrath of Bernie, he may find himself in shreds at the end.

From F1 Live:

Bernie Ecclestone has not ruled out suggestions that a letter written by fellow F1 powerbroker Max Mosley last week was a 'declaration of war'.

Ahead of the FIA senate's crucial confidence vote relating to the sex scandal, the embattled FIA President warned motor racing club Presidents that he should be kept in his role because of 'complex negotiations' about the future of the sport.

Mosley revealed that F1's commercial rights holder CVC, represented by F1 Chief Executive Ecclestone, is trying to renegotiate its 100 year agreement so that it has "control over the Formula One regulations and the right to sell the business to anyone."

Mosley also said he is opposed to the push for a new Concorde Agreement that would give non-FIA entities even more power.

"I sincerely hope that it isn't a declaration of war because, if that's what the message should be, then we'll have to defend ourselves," 77-year-old Ecclestone, referring to Mosley's letter, was quoted as saying by the British newspaper The Times.

"I don't want to have a war with Max. I hope he doesn't want one with me," he added.   
 
Ecclestone also rejects Mosley's argument that the confidence vote on June 3 is about anything other than whether he still has the ability to be FIA President after he was caught in a sadomasochistic romp with five prostitutes.

"It's nothing to do with anything else and I don't quite know why he's come out and said these things," Bernie said, also rejecting Mosley's claim that F1 is on the verge of a 'major financial crisis' and the loss of more teams.

"I don't see any problems up until a couple of months ago," Ecclestone explained, referring to the News of the World expose.

Following a board meeting that took place this week, Ecclestone said CVC intends to reply to Mosley's letter.

[Alianora La Canta]

If you live by harsh words and lack of perspective, expect to die of harsh words and lack of perspective. Max Mosley will have plenty of time to consider the truth of that statement while Bernie removes the last vestiges of his power.

[cosworth151]

Could this be the F1 version of a pro westling Smackdown? What better way for Bernie to keep his pet boy Max in the driver's seat at the FIA than to stage a "war" with him? I smell a set-up.

[Steven Roy]

I think I agree with Cos.  Max can't be stupid enough to pick a fight with Bernie.  Nigel Stepney may know where the bodies are buried at Ferrari but you can be sure Bernie knows every body anyone has buried in the last 30 years as well as knowing who did the burying and who has been maintaining the graves ever since.

[John S]

Max is likely to pick a fight with anyone if he thinks it will help keep him in the presidents seat.

Max likes being a politician whilst claiming he is an administrator, where as Bernie only uses politics and anything else to hand to get what he wants which is more money and clout.

I don't see this response from Bernie as a conspiritorial gambit but more an oppotunistic way of keeping negotiations in his favour.

[Steven Roy]

I expect we will see Bernie's letter published everywhere by Friday.  After all the bluster it will recommend that Max is kept as FIA president and state that he has done an outstanding job so far.  I would not be remotely surprised if these are the first shots in a re-election campaign. 

[Scott]

Doesn't look like he's supporting Max in any sort of re-election. 

Bernie is the first person to say it clearly according to the Telegraph.  I love the quote about Max saying it's everyone's fault but his own and how everyone had everything to do with the orgy except him.

It's one of those battles where you hope they both 'kill' each other so there is no winner. 

Anyhow, from F1 Live:

Tension building in between Ecclestone and Mosley
 
Bernie Ecclestone, angry at the letter sent by Max Mosley to FIA clubs, has finally retracted all support for his beleaguered fellow F1 powerbroker.

Ecclestone is annoyed that Mosley attempted to widen the sex scandal to a 'declaration of war' with the sport's commercial rights holder, which is headed by the 77-year-old F1 Chief Executive.

"Everybody's wrong except him," Ecclestone mocked in the Monte Carlo paddock on Thursday, according to the Daily Telegraph.

"Everybody was involved in the orgy except him. He is just lashing out at anything he can.

"If he wants me to be the enemy he should be very careful because if he makes me an enemy I could make sure that he never whips anybody again," he warned.

Ecclestone said the Mosley letter was insulting to the 222 FIA clubs because it effectively branded them as 'idiots' who could not take over responsibility for the Paris-based governing body.

"Normally Max is more together instead of making silly, outrageous mistakes," Bernie, whose former alliance with Mosley stretched back decades, continued.   
 
Ecclestone also put his signature to a formal letter of reply to the clubs, vigorously denying that he wants to take over all the FIA's F1 powers.

In the letter, he moved to correct the 'misunderstandings and inaccurate conclusions' that Mosley invited the club Presidents to come to.

"The (commercial rights holder) does not wish to have control over the Formula One regulations," Ecclestone wrote.

He also clarified that the only changes he wants to F1's agreements with the FIA are to clear up some 'unintended consequences' of the original documents.

"We intend to continue our successful relationship with the FIA," Ecclestone said.

[Steven Roy]

I think that my prediction went down the plug hole.

[Scott]

Maybe Max will lay out for us the 'unforseen consequences' that the CRH and the FIA need to iron out?  I suspect that it is either about MORE money for Bernie, or something to do with him getting control of yet another aspect of Formula 1.  It's wonderful to see them both throwing their toys out of the pram though.

I gotta say I was not pleased that F1 Racing decided to completely sidestep the entire issue in their last magazine (threats from Bernie or Max regarding future access perhaps?).  I wonder if they change their tune now.  Anyone still on Max's ship is going to jump onto Bernie's is my guess.  Even the FIA spokesman responded to Bernie's letter saying that they (the FIA) are looking forward to continued constructive discussions regarding the 100 year agreements.

[John S]

Don't bank on FIA delegates sideing with Bernie, he has a reputation for screwing over everyone to get more money or just what he wants. There are lots of other series and classes to Motorsport and some delegates may see it as payback for Bernie to keep Max in place.

I've just realised this could still be a darstardly scheme by M & B to try to ensure Max survives, maybe not though as such a Machevellian plot is only really found in novels. c*ck up theory is more like real life and Max probably has offended the usually rawhide skinned Bernie.

[Scott]

I didn't mean that the FIA delegates would all jump on Bernie's ship.  Bernie has two roads to take.  He can either fund his chosen one and work the backrooms and the wallets in the backrooms to get his boy in the Presidents office, or sit back and see who is elected and then corrupt him/her.  I suspect that if plan A doesn't work, he'll then move on to plan B.  Delegates are delegates, all over the world, whether they are in the FIA or one of the political parties in the U.S.  Pliable as wet clay.

[John S]

You're absolutley right, it's just a pity Bernie didn't see fit to use just a small bit of his cash to keep Super Aguri in business; now that would show he cares.

[johnbull]

A few more clubs have expressed their views today, but still no RAC or CSAI.

I don't expect any different from the Italians, they are used to sitting on the fence, but what the hell is the RAC playing at?

[Alianora La Canta]

The RAC has to get formal agreement from the other six clubs that share the touring responsibility in the UK, otherwise the UK is obliged to give a casting blank vote.

[Chameleon]

I believe there has been a secret struggle between Max and Bernie ever since Indy, 2005.  Max had got everything he wanted from Bernie by then (namely, enough money to be independent) and that was the first occasion on which Max flexed his muscles.  Since then, Bernie has made the occasional comment that indicated his growing unease with Max.  What we are seeing now is the war breaking out into the open.

And, contrary to everyone's blithe assumption that Bernie will win, Max has won every round so far.  He got his own way over Ron Dennis and the Ferrari documents (while allowing Bernie the consolation prize of keeping the drivers' points - no sense in making it too obvious that a war was going on), now he hangs on to power in the face of Bernie's apparently well-intentioned advice to step down.

Bernie may be getting very old but even he can see that the monster he let loose is in the final stages of destroying the FIA.  No doubt he hopes that he can be part of the solution by becoming involved with a breakaway F1 when the manufacturers have had enough, but it's a faint hope at best.  He is just getting too old and Max is proving far more politically astute than the mighty bean counter.

We're watching the end of an era, folks.