JULY 21, 2004

The Mosley business

There is one rather important thing which has been overlooked in all the talk about Max Mosley reversing his decision to retire a year ahead of schedule: the FIA Senate's decisions have to be ratified by the FIA World Councils - or at least that is what it says in the FIA statutes. In theory therefore the request to Mosley to rescind his resignation cannot be confirmed until both World Councils have met again.

The role of the FIA Senate is to "take any decisions required by the current management of the FIA and deal with urgent matters. All these decisions must be approved by the relevant World Council or by the Committee". The Committee is a combination of the two World Councils.

According to the latest FIA Yearbook, the current Senate members are Michel Boeri (Monaco), Rosario Alessi (Italy), Jean-Marie Balestre (France), Robert Darbelnet (USA), Otto Flimm (Germany), Max Mosley, John Large (Australia) and Marco Piccinini (Italy) and while this group represents all the member clubs, they are not the only people who have a voice when it comes to such a serious issue as the presidency.

It is probable that the World Councils will back the Senate's decision but it is nonetheless a necessary step that must be taken if the whole process is to be done by the book.