Mosley Rules Out U-Turn on Quit Decision

Max Mosley said he will not change his mind over his decision to leave the FIA, and fired a scathing parting shot at Formula One team bosses on Friday as he explained why he was standing down as head of the sport's governing body.

"I am not an F1 team principal so I don't change my mind every few minutes," Mosley replied when asked if he could reverse his decision to quit.

Speaking at the French Grand Prix a day after the International Automobile Federation (FIA) announced the president would leave in October, Mosley said he had simply had enough of the job.

"I've got to the point now where I no longer find it interesting or satisfying to sit in long meetings...where people often agree things and then go away and change their minds completely," he said. "Sometimes one says to oneself 'Isn't it actually probably more fun to sit on the beach with an interesting book than to sit here having these discussions?."

Mosley expressed confidence in Formula One, despite widespread uncertainty about the future, and revealed 'drastic' measures to take effect from 2005 to cut speeds and improve safety. But the 64-year-old Briton reserved his most cutting comments for the 10 Formula One team bosses, referring to one in particular - who remained nameless - as "not the sharpest knife in the box."

"He brings with him a manager person to give him a little bit of weight. And the manager person is a detail man. The problem is, it's always the wrong detail," he added. "So you have these interminable discussions about completely irrelevant minutia when you are trying to get on with something serious. At a certain point that begins to pall."

Era Ends

Mosley has been a close friend of Formula One's commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone for more than 30 years and he recognised that it was the end of a formidable double act.

"When I told him, I don't think he thought that I was serious," he said. "I feel a bit sad about it because it is the end of an era. But Bernie and I will remain friends."

But he said he had no real regrets after 13 years in charge. "You shouldn't stay in a job if it doesn't really fascinate you," he declared.

"I've achieved within the job everything I've set out to achieve," added Mosley, who has been at the forefront of safety campaigning since the death of Brazilian World Champion Ayrton Senna in 1994.

The term of office expires in October 2005 but he explained that he had decided to go a year early because far-reaching changes in Formula One would be wrapped up by. "If I were going to step down in 2005 then all I've really got is another year of fairly mundane things," he said. "To hang on is a mistake. You've got to be ready to go and I'm ready."

Mosley said he had started thinking about standing down a year ago and finalised the decision three weeks ago. He added that the FIA's general assembly would elect a new president at their next meeting in October.

He declined to name any favourite for the job.