Max survives vote of confidence

[Scott]

The 24 clubs that wrote the letter to Max urging him to step down represent 89% of the motorists in the world affiliated with FIA supported motoring clubs.  What that means is that if you add in the other 31 anonymous clubs that voted against him, you could certainly say that over 90% of the FIA represented motorists had their delegates vote AGAINST Max.  He can bask in the glory of this win for a while, but like Steven said, when there are a half dozen clubs left in the FIA, will it really matter?

Say Wiz, can you check and see if Sennaman's computer is in an FIA building in Paris?  Methinks he is actually Max.

[Steven Roy]

SennaMan,

If the major clubs breakaway what is left.  A bunch of clubs who get money from the FIA.  All the donors are about to leave the building.

You claim he functions very well.  Did he function well in Bahrain?  Were you impressed with the way he launched his racing against racism project in Barcelona while he was hiding in Jordan?  Did he function well in Monaco when no-one not even Ferrari were prepared to be seen in public with him?

His justification for staying was that he was the only person who could save the FIA.  I think he just might have been wrong about that.

Members of any club have the right to leave and set up their own club if they are unhappy about the way the club is being run or portrayed.  It doesn't matter if it is the local golf club or the FIA.  The clubs that finance the FIA and which represent 80 to 90% of its individual members are unhappy with Max being in charge so they look like they will choose to leave.  That is their right.  Do you think it is right that Max puts his own self interest above the future wellbeing of the FIA?  Do you think that because in a secret ballot people who stand to gain from him holding on to his position voted for him that all the problems around him will go away?

He could not function yesterday.  He will not be able to function tomorrow.  He will never be able to function again.

[John S]

All power to Max for surviving the vote which most people, including me, thought would go against him.

I think it's a bit extreme to say he is unable to function, the present situation does limit his public appearances it's true but there is much more to the office of President than that.

Yes it may be true that the big clubs represent huge chunks of the population but that does not make the result of the vote undemocratic since the rules for voting are clearly defined in the constitution. Maybe some of the big clubs should have voiced their disapproval of the voting system before now and used their might to make it more proportionaly representative instead of just assuming the vote would go against Max. They seem to have failed the great public they claim to represent.

Max may just be proving a point with this vote and will step aside in the next few weeks, I feel sure even he realises there is no real winner from this, but he will still retain bragging rights.

Lets not forget Max has pushed through enormous safety gains for Motor Sport and motoring in general since the deaths of Senna, Ratzenburger, et al. The introduction of these costly measures have often been strongly opposed by the teams. Perhaps we should ask some of the drivers who have had massive shunts in the last couple of years how they feel about these safety changes Max forced through.

[Steven Roy]

Every time anyone looks to justify Max's existence we get the safety thing thrown up.  There had not been a fatality at a race meeting in the 12 years before Imola 94 and only one driver had died in an F1 car in testing.  Max's contribution to safety has been massively overstated.  To repeat a question I have asked 1000 times.  If you were FIA president going to work on 2nd May 1994 is there any way you would not have made safety you priority?  Had Max really been interested in safety Senna would not have died at Tamburello because Max would have reacted to the ample evidence from the Piquet and Berger accidents at the same corner.  It was sheer neglect by Max and his predecessor that caused Senna's death but all I ever read is Max made motor racing safe.

[romephius]

My 2 cents worth.

Max survived... of course I'm not happy he is still there.  My views on why Mr Mosely shouldn't be there stem from the fact that, he was recorded behaving in a manner that many people find deploreable.  Now people like Sennaman crap on about invasion of privacy and it having no bearing what so ever on Moselys ability to perform the job.  He is a public figure and public figures will always have their lives under the microscope, that is something that happens.  Now if part of your job is being in the media's eye, or dealing with various clubs and teams that no longer wish to deal with you because something in your personal life has changed their view of you as a person, then you are no longer able to perform your job 100%.  That is just a simple fact of human nature and life.

Now I can't stand Mosely as much as anyone else, I believe he has the right to act any way he likes in his private life, however if he was STUPID enough to allow evidence of the more distasteful parts of his private life to exist and even worse, have it's security compromised, then he get's everything he deserved.  As for running the FIA, I believe that technically he is competent, not exceptional, but competent.  But now, due to embarrassment or something else, he is getting others to make public appearences for him, this means he isn't doing the full job and as such, he should show us that he has motorsport and the FIAs interests in mind, by resigning. 

Personally I don't care for conspiracy theories, NOTW is just a 'news' service like any other, I don't see people like Sennaman jumping up and down that major papers in the U.K. follow the royals around and report every aspect of their lives, or, papers the world over chasing celebrities, people like him aren't calling for these papers to be closed, so before you can accuse everyone of being hipocrites, make sure you look in that mirror too Sennaman.

As always, I mean no offence to anyone, and I could be wrong in my views.  It's all just my opinion.

Rom

P.S.  And like a wise 7 year old boy once said to me "opinions are like assh*les, everyone has one, and they ALL stink"

[Alianora La Canta]

It was Max's mishandling of the consequences of his extracurricular activities, rather than the activities themselves, that caused me to call for his dismissal. To judge from grandprix.com, the main reason why people voted for Max was the threat of instability - in other words, they were defending their organisation as a whole rather than Max himself. And since it was Max who was telling them there was an external threat, it's safe to say that it was fear rather than an approval of Max's capabilities that primarily influenced the voting.

The abstentions and invalid votes are basically ignored - they do not influence the decision and are assumed to agree with whatever is decided. Given that a majority was needed to win, they were effectively a weak vote against the one of confidence.

As to the safety thing, I would say that in the early years Max was very good (not just on safety, but on banning electronics in F1 and laying the foundations for Euro-NCAP) but that after the second term of office ended, he gradually lost his way. The first major sign being the ill-advised rule changes of 15 January 2003 (of which only parc fermé remains in the rule book, nearly everything else lasting only one year) and getting worse each time he tried to change anything. He started out a great president and eventually became the awful one before us now. The thing is that the FIA weren't supposed to be voting on whether Max was a great President. They were meant to vote on whether he would be a good President going into the future - or at least a bearable one. With Max's public power seriously curtailed and him stating in the letter to the FIA clubs that he was there for the big stuff as opposed to the day-to-day running of the group, I would suggest that the FIA cannot afford to bear Mosley as president.

I have seen no evidence that the News of the World deliberately lied or was recklessly wrong in its opinion (which it would have to have done in order for a full-blown lawsuit to work), but to be fair I never saw the video either (nor do I want to).

[Monty]

My opinions (which as Rom would say may be wrong etc, etc.)_
Max is the President - it was teams of people below him who suggested rule changes, safety measures, etc. and he fronted those ideas. Quite rightly he would then take the glory or the rotten fruit if they were successful or failures but he certainly did not make motor racing safer single handed.
He has however unilaterally attacked teams and personalities within the sport with no mandate from the FIA (Ron Dennis, Sir Jackie Stewart, etc.).
He was also primarily responsible for taking the Stepneygate affair beyond all rational levels apparently to score against Ron Dennis.
He has admitted to using prostitutes, he accepts that he was at an S/M orgy, his only claim against the newspaper was that the orgy did not have Nazi connotations (oh well that's alright then. It's OK for the President of World's leading motor racing federation to have the morales of a sewer rat while trying to promote the sport to some of the most religious regions on the planet!).
The man is a rotten apple. Many of us on this forum have been saying so for a long while. The fact that he didn't even have the decency to step down immediately his private life brought the sport into disrepute says everything about the man's arrogance and lack of respect for the sport.

[cosworth151]

I'm of two minds about the vote. One one hand, I think Max's private life his his own business. I wouldn't even necessarily call it immoral. It certainly doesn't amount to a cause for his removal.

On the other hand, Max's term at the helm of the FIA has been a disaster. Just in the past few years, we've had the over reaction to the Stepney affair, the personal attacks on people like Stewart and Dennis, the fiasco at Indy in 2005 and, worst of all, the sweetheart deal with Bernie. Most of the advances that have happened during his term, like the safety issues, were mostly the products of The Technical Working Group, the GPDA and others.

Max need to go, and go quickly. He is a blight on the sport. Just not for this reason.

As with Rom and others, it's just my opinion.

[CrazyHorse]

Sir Jackie was knighted in 2001 because he put saftey before popularity.

Please excuse my ignorance, but wtf has Max done?

[Steven Roy]

I am surprised at your ignorance pleiades.  Max made Bernie rich and if the stories are to be believed Max then allegedly mad Max rich.

[Ian]

Hey guys, this is starting to get personal, not good. 

[romephius]

I agree Ian... let's agree that we are all passionate about this subject... we are never all going to agree on all the fine points...

No matter which way you lean on the votes and the story.... it's over now... he stayed.

Rom

[Scott]

I am surprised at your ignorance pleiades.  Max made Bernie rich and if the stories are to be believed Max then allegedly mad Max rich.

I think it was a joke, Ian.

[CrazyHorse]

lets save our hate for james allen   

[John S]

lets save our hate for james allen   

I'm with you all the way!