Max Mosley rose to power thanks to the support of the smaller FIA Clubs.  It was a canny strategy and completely blindsided then FIA President Jean Marie Balstre who believed his position was secure.  It’s highly probable that the small clubs have once again been there to propel Max past this current political crisis.  Such support usually comes with a price and it seems that the FIA might be paying the bill - literally.

To shed some light on how Mosley got the backing he needed to survive a vote of non-confidence, consider the comments of Dutch motoring body President, Guido Van Woerkom:

• “Corrupt is not the way, I won’t say it. But when you look at the McLaren fine, that is a lot of money, and when you get something from that you are more or less in favour of the people giving you that bread.

What Van Woerkom is talking about is the system whereby national clubs are allocated money by the FIA from it’s coffers for local programs.  Small clubs in particular generate little money on their own and depend on these funds to organize races, promote safety and in some cases, just to survive.  How much money is distributed and to whom is decided by the FIA - in other words by Max.

It’s not difficult to imagine that over the past few weeks many calls we made to these smaller clubs.  The sort of calls that contained a message about the well running dry for them if Max isn’t President. Undoubtedly some got the message.

Others might have been more politically astute and sensed an opportunity to prosper from the situation. Maybe they held out for a political appointment or maybe it was something more basic, like cash.

Interestingly, the FIA just happens to have recently found itself 100 million dollars richer thanks to the McLaren fine.  They even formed a committee to consider how to utilize the money so arguably it can still be used for anything.

In the weeks and months ahead we might well see a number of interesting projects in some obscure parts of the globe.  We’ll never know how each member voted but we do know that 103 of them voted for Mosley.  No doubt he has a few favors to return. And make no mistake, Max would savor the irony of using Ron Dennis’ money to underwrite his own political future.

Funny world where this is not considered bringing the sport into disrepute.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!