Mosley: Formula One is stronger now

Even though the spy scandal of last year remains a hot talking point in the sport, Mosley thinks that once the new season gets underway in Melbourne, F1 will quickly move on from the events of last year.

He believes that the swift way the FIA dealt with the matter, allied to the huge interest surrounding Lewis Hamilton, will ensure F1 does not linger on the spying matter.

"I hope and think so," Mosley said, when asked by autosport.com if he thought F1 would move on once the season gets underway. "That is the aim, to put it all behind us.

"I think F1 comes out of things like this stronger, because I think it has demonstrated a willingness on our part to do what we had to do to make sure it was fair.

"And I think at the same time, Lewis' success and the success of some of the other young drivers renewed interest in the whole of F1.

"There are a whole lot of people who would be superstars if it wasn't for Lewis. (Sebastian) Vettel, for example, and I think (Sebastien) Bourdais will surprise some people this year - plus (Robert) Kubica, (Nico) Rosberg and (Adrian) Sutil."

Although Mosley has made it clear that he thinks justice was served in the spy case, where McLaren were thrown out of the constructors' championship and fined $100 million for being in possession of confidential Ferrari information, he says he took no satisfaction from what happened.

"It was so stressful," he explained. "You have those hearings, and in the first one in July you have to be the prosecutor because there was no one there from the other side. It was very difficult to find the balance between being aggressive enough but not too aggressive.

"The only moment that was at all pleasing was when the internal (engineer) emails turned up - which was the conclusive proof that we were right all along. I'm glad the FIA didn't end up with egg on its face, but I would far rather the whole thing hadn't happened at all."

Mosley thinks that the background of the spy matter had no impact on Lewis Hamilton's late season troubles that cost him the title - as he predicts lots of success for the Briton in the future.

"I don't think we did anything, and I don't think it had any real affect on Lewis," said Mosley about whether the FIA punishment increased pressure on Hamilton.

"Thinking about the drivers, it was Raikkonen's turn more than it was Lewis's turn and I think Lewis will get plenty of turns. Unless something goes dramatically wrong, Lewis will win several championships.

"Ron (Dennis) said the other day that, when all is said and done, to have missed the championship by one point, to have won four races, and been on the podium in the first nine in his first season - it will be a long time before that is improved.

"And if he goes on as long as Michael (Schumacher) did, then he might beat his records. But there are some great young drivers about, so he is not going to have an easy time."