Mosley Unmoved by Possible Challenge

With the majority of teams having met in Munich on Wednesday amid suggestions they are plotting to support a rival candidate in this year's FIA presidential elections, Mosley claims there is no way he will be forced out of his position.

"The thing is, it's not up the teams, it is up to the FIA," he said at Silverstone. "They are only involved in F1, while I'm responsible for all the other forms of motorsport. They are just a tiny part of one part of a huge sporting programme.

"The best thing a lot of these F1 team principals could do, and they would be much more successful, is if they stepped back and let the team managers run the teams.

"I will be here at next year's British Grand Prix, medical problems apart. The majority of the team principals I speak to in a perfectly civilised way. They may be angry but I was angry with them after Indianapolis. They know that in the end I am sitting here trying to run it properly and as well as I can. I am doing an honest job to the best of my ability."

Friction between the teams and Mosley has been brewing all season, but reached a head in the aftermath of the Indianapolis tyre fiasco - with the teams believing that Mosley could have intervened and resolved the crisis.

Bu with things having escalated since then, with the drivers now involved in the ongoing controversy, Mosley has said he is not worried that paddock politics were damaging the image of the sport in the eyes of the public.

"The public are going to switch on television and if we are lucky we will see a great race," he explained. "What seems a huge issue in the paddock as soon as you move outside, it doesn't bother the public in the least.

"If they put the television on and see a good race then we are in the pound seats, but if they see a bad race then even if Ron Dennis, Nick Fry and I were making love in the paddock it is not going to fix F1."

Mosley also says that he is unmoved by the barrage of criticisms he has faced this year from Minardi boss Paul Stoddart, who is acting as the unofficial spokesman for the teams.

"I am not in the least bothered about being popular. I will always do what I think is right to the best of my ability. Once they calm down from Indianapolis and people get a sense of realism they will realise all they have got to do is be sensible."

And in a reference to a telephone conversation that took place between Mosley and David Coulthard after Indianapolis, which has further added to the controversy, he claims there was nothing sinister.

"I have never, ever in the 14 years I have been here, picked on anyone. If David is worried he has got absolutely nothing to worry about. He knows that he can pick the phone up to me or go for dinner in Monaco any time he wants."