“Once the scandal was brought to the minister's attention, he has requested to withdraw immediately any official invitation to Mosley until the matter is reviewed more thoroughly once back in Israel,” an Israeli government statement read.
The FIA subsequently issued a statement underlining that 'his invitation was not intended to be personal to Mosley himself, but rather to the representative of the FIA as a global organisation'.
Meanwhile, Mosley has spoken out to assert that he is not avoiding F1 races, despite having been requested not to travel to Bahrain by the Gulf state's royal family and choosing to stay away from Spain in order – it has been suggested – to avoid any potential embarrassment to King Juan Carlos
“I never had any intentions of going to Barcelona, because I had nothing to do there,” he is quoted as having stressed by the
BBC, omitting any reference to the launch of the
EveryRace initiative.
“I only went to one complete F1 race last year. That was Monaco, and that was because I live there. I will be going to the Monaco Grand Prix [in May].”
He also re-affirmed his determination to battle to keep his job – despite innumerable calls for his resignation from the sport's leading teams, former drivers and motoring organisations around the globe – but added he would not be seeking a fifth term.
“My inclination is to stand and fight,” he re-iterated. “If they wish me to continue, I will continue; if they don't, I'll stop.”
F1's team bosses, meanwhile, remained tight-lipped over the subject during a meeting held in Toyota's motorhome during the Barcelona weekend, convened by the sport's supremo Bernie Ecclestone. All team principals save for Aguri Suzuki were in attendance, but the
Daily Telegraph claims that efforts to issue a joint statement on the matter were blocked by Ferrari – whose president, the urbane Luca di Montezemolo, is a key Mosley ally – Williams and Scuderia Toro Rosso (co-owned by Mosley's Monaco neighbour and close friend Gerhard Berger), all of whom said they could not commit themselves without further consultations.
That argument is at odds with the view taken by major manufacturers BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Toyota and Honda, who all released their own statements in Bahrain three weeks ago expressing their distaste and severe disapproval of Mosley's actions. It is believed the teams are becoming increasingly angry at being powerless to do anything about the massively-commercialised sport into which they have invested millions being controlled by a man currently embroiled in a highly damaging sex scandal.
