JULY 14, 2005

Mosley and the FIA election

Compromise has broken out across Formula 1 and that is not a bad thing given the level of tension that has existed in the last few weeks. Suddenly everyone is agreeing with one another and it is just down to ironing out the few remaining problems of the 2008 rules and then, hopefully, the sport will be able to address the real problem of the future commercial structure of Formula 1 - or whatever it is called after the end of the Concorde Agreement in 2007.

The commercial matters are not, in theory at least, the business of the federation and that means that once a rules package is agreed - which could happen by October - there will be no real need for FIA President Max Mosley to stand for election again as he will have achieved all of this stated goals and can go into retirement (as he wanted to do last summer) with the house in order. This will please the teams which are tired of dealing with Mosley (even if now no-one will say a bad word about anyone else) and will open the way for a new man to take control.

The big question is who that man might be and the speculation is that unless there is a surprise candidate from the younger generations, the man most likely to get the job is Monaco's Michel Boeri, who was one of the frontrunners a year ago when Mosley announced his resignation. Boeri has been a leading light in the FIA since he became the head of the Automobile Club de Monaco in 1972 (his father had previously held the job between 1966-1968). At the time he was in his thirties and was widely seen as Jean-Marie Balestre's intended successor before Mosley unseated Balestre. Boeri has served under Mosley while also being a member of parliament in Monaco and indeed the head of the foreign relations council, which in effect is a ministerial job. Boeri was defeated in the Monaco elections of 2003 but it remains to be seen whether he will get a job with Prince Albert's new government. The Prince, who was crowned earlier this week, has asked his entire cabinet to resign. If Boeri does not get a job in the new government he is likely to be a leading contender for the FIA job.