Mosley not ruling out staying at the FIA

Mosley stated earlier this year he would step down from his role as president of the governing body when his tenure has run its course, in October 2009.

But after winning a privacy case against the News of the World last month, following the tabloid's accusation that Mosley had engaged in a Nazi-themed orgy, the 68-year-old Briton revealed there are growing calls for him to run for re-election.

"I have to say there is an awful lot of pressure coming from different parts of the world saying 'continue', which is very nice of them, and is very widespread, I have to say that," the FIA president told Reuters at Monza today.

"But it's very hard work and I am really quite ready to take a less active role ... There comes a point with that sort of thing where you think maybe a slightly quieter life would be ideal, but we shall see.

"You can't rule anything out. No. You should never say never, as the old cliche goes. But at the moment my inclination is that I would like a quiet life."

Mosley was first elected as FIA president 17 years ago, and has been a dominant figure in Formula One - despite only attending few races in person.

His visit to the Monza paddock this year is the second since the sex scandal, which led to calls within F1 to remove himself from the president's position. BMW and Toyota in particular were critical of Mosley's behaviour in the affair.

But after being vindicated by the court judgement, Mosley, who was also present at the Monaco Grand Prix, said today he was certain these two teams regretted their initial reaction, and admitted he too responded wrongly to their statements.

"As far as Formula One is concerned, everything has just gone on," Mosley said. "The only thing that happened in Formula One is the two German and Japanese teams put out rather ill-considered press releases. At the time, I put out a rather ill-considered response to the German one.

"But they should have picked the phone up and asked me what the truth of the matter was. They didn't bother to do that. They are probably a little ashamed at that now and they should be.

"But apart from that very minor thing, everything has flowed along, the discussions backwards and forwards about the regulations have been completely normal."

Mosley also welcomed the appointment of Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo as the chairman of the Formula One Teams Association (FOTA) and said he hoped the new body will focus on cutting costs in the sport.

"[Di Montezemolo] will know that it is a situation where we've got to act unless we're going to endanger Formula One," Mosley said.

"Formula One can't go on as if nothing had happened when the whole world is in some degree or another of economic difficulty."