Sour Grapes

Max Mosley may have survived a confidence vote on Tuesday to keep his job as FIA president, but that still hasn't stopped many people from calling for his resignation. Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone is one of them.

"Max should stand down in November," Ecclestone told The Independent newspaper. "For me it's a difficult situation because I run the Formula One Group of companies, and the teams - the manufacturers - are violently opposed to him."

"I knew he would win (the vote), there was no way he could lose. But I still don't think it's good for him, or for the FIA, to be honest. He said he wanted to finish at the end of 2007, and then the end of this year, before all this happened. What highlights the problem he may still face is what happened in Monaco. Prince Albert made it very clear that he did not want him on the grid, and that he would have security around him so that if Max did appear they could not be seen together."

"I've always said that Max will be the president until he dies," he added. "What many people don't understand is that he enjoys confrontation. He likes argument, these things stimulate him."

Ecclestone isn't the only one calling for Mosley's head. Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo also thinks that Mosley should quit. "I believe he himself should understand that at times it is necessary to say 'I must leave the place for reasons of credibility." di Montezemolo said to the Italian news agency ANSA.

This a bit of a change from when di Montezemolo was aksed the question back in April. "I think it's objectively unlikely, but I believe it depends on him and his sensibility." di Montezemolo told the Italian newspaper, Gazzzetta dello Sport. "However, I can say that the day Mosley, for whatever reason, decides to leave, the FIA will need a leader with the same level of experience, competence, personality and balance."

"If I look at what Max has done these years on the issue of safety, at the speed with which a verdict was produced in the spy story, and other stuff, my judgement on him can be nothing but positive. If he leaves, in his place we'd need someone like him."

Funny how the mind can change.

Ferrari president: Mosley should quit (Autosport.com)

Ecclestone: Mosley should still resign (Autosport.com)