Mosley too failed to escape the latest verbal volley, with Stewart repeating his belief that it is time for the head of the sport's governing body to step down - something he called for after last year's sex scandal involving the president. Again, the pair have exchanged criticisms and insults, and Stewart does not hold back when suggesting that Mosley ought to walk far away from the FIA.

“I think Max should remove himself from the FIA completely - and from motorsport and the motor industry,” he said, “The FIA should replace him with somebody not from within its organisation or even within motorsport. They should go out and headhunt a CEO who is going to rebuild the structure in line with modern practice to satisfy the investors in the sport and to give the FIA total transparency.

“The scandal created the opportunity for a new structure to be born, [but] that opportunity has been overtaken by one man's insistence on remaining, which would have been impossible had it been an Olympic committee, the Football Association or a publicly held company. How can we accept that in a sport so dependent on multinational corporations and even governments for its revenues and which also requires a totally transparent and independent rule-making body?

“They haven't looked after the house properly and the foundations are built on just this two-man working relationship. This has evoked concern and apprehension on the part of those involved in the sport."