Day 158: Max Mosley

I’ve just finished watching an illuminating interview with Max Mosley, former president of motor sport’s international governing body, the FIA. He presided over the sport from 1993 until 2009 – and therefore the majority of recent times when I’ve been watching it.

He led the safety revolution in the mid-90s after the deaths of Roland Ratzenberger and Ayrton Senna, without which there may well have been further fatalities since (the death of marshall Paolo Gislimberti at the 2000 Italian Grand Prix caused further tightening up and saw the introduction of wheel tethers which have doubtless saved further lives). He oversaw the resolution of the spygate scandal between McLaren and Ferrari. He attempted to control costs in F1, but struggled as the teams weren’t up for limiting their resources in such a way – however his News Of The World downfall (he was filmed secretly doing things he shouldna oughta – and subsequently won a court case against them for the breach of his privacy) caused this last great idea to fall down as confidence in him became weak. He did other things to reduce costs however, removing the whole idea of a dedicated qualifying car – with a special engine and additional aerodynamics with no radiators to ruin air flow; a madness – from current Formula 1.

Anyway, rarely have I enjoyed an interview with such a figure so much. He was open, honest, clear and made a lot of sense. OK, so it’s an interview for us hardcore fans. But overall, I feel that he was certainly a good thing for the sport overall.

This was part of Sky Sports’ build up to the Canadian Grand Prix. They do a lovely job of these kind of interviews and they are always worth a watch.