JULY 4, 2008

A moment of peace?

The last few months have seen a deal of stress and strain between Max Mosley and Bernie Ecclestone, although it has been very difficult towork out whether they were really at odds or whether they were (as usual) working together. The one thing on which everyone agreed was that a division between the two made little sense.

The last few months have seen a deal of stress and strain between Max Mosley and Bernie Ecclestone, although it has been very difficult towork out whether they were really at odds or whether they were (as usual) working together. The one thing on which everyone agreed was that a division between the two made little sense. However the FIA decision to get rid of GP2 and to reintroduce Formula 2 was the first real sign that all was not well in the F1 playpen. This was clearly a swipe at one of the businesses controlled by CVC Capital Partners, Ecclestone's partners in the Formula One group of companies. It was seen by many as a warning shot.

Now The Times is reporting that Ecclestone and Mosley have agreed to patch up their differences. The newspaper quoted Ecclestone saying that there was a truce but an FIA spokesman was less forthcoming, remarking that "it is a very interesting moment in the trajectory of this story". It is not entirely clear what this means but the timing is interesting with the British GP putting F1 into clear focus in the media in the next few days, followed by the first of the Mosley court cases, which is due to begin next week, to examine whether The News of the World violated Mosley's privacy with its revelations about his private life. Calming down the choppy waters of F1 is probably a sensible thing to do, given that the corporate cheque-signers have been getting rather nervous in recent weeks.

Does it mean that all the problems between the two men have been solved?

Probably not.