NOVEMBER 1, 2001

Mosley rejects forgery claims

THE FIA President Max Mosley says that suggestions that one of the signatures on documents at the United States Grand Prix was forged are incorrect. The FIA has admitted that one of the stewards, Canadian Roger Peart, left the circuit before the problem arose with the skid block of the Jordan of Jarno Trulli. According to Mosley, Peart was kept informed on what was going on by telephone and agreed with the decision taken and authorized his name to be signed on the documents. Mosley says that it would have been better if it had been signed by someone else with annotation "pp" (per pro) instead of being made to look like Peart's signature.

The FIA Court of Appeal threw out the case against Jordan as a result of the procedural errors by the stewards because Peart had not heard Jordan's side of the argument. The FIA regulations state the decision of the stewards needs only two of the three representatives to agree but all three need to be present.

Mosley says that he does not expect any action to be taken against Peart nor against the chairman of the stewards at Indianapolis Paul Gutjahr, despite the fact that the rules state that it was his responsibility to ensure that "arrangements are respected".