The 67-year-old has also come under fire from the sport's leading car manufacturers – with
BMW and Mercedes-Benz issuing a joint statement condemning his actions and
Toyota and
Honda expressing their distaste – as well as some of its most prominent drivers, with Sir
Stirling Moss and 1979 world champion Jody Scheckter speaking out against him and both
Lewis Hamilton and
Nico Rosberg underlining the need for people in high authority to set a positive example [see separate story –
click here]. Three-time world champion Sir
Jackie Stewart has also claimed that Mosley is ‘now in an untenable situation'.
Whilst the British Racing Drivers' Club – which is currently in negotiations with the governing body over the future of the British Grand Prix at
Silverstone – has kept a dignified silence on the issue, a senior figure close to its president, 1996 world champion
Damon Hill, told the
Observer that Mosley's future looked bleak, particularly with the
News of the World today publishing what are said to be selected transcripts of his conversations with the prostitutes during the £2,500, five-hour encounter.
“Everybody in
F1 is pretty uneasy about this,” the source said. “This affects the sport. Max picking a fight with the manufacturers – as he did last week when he dug up the Nazi past of BMW and Mercedes-Benz – means he has signed his own death warrant, because they are bigger than he is. They will apply pressure throughout the
FIA.”
Mosley had planned to attend the Bahrain Grand Prix in Sakhir this weekend, but he was advised against making the trip by Sheikh Salman Bin Hamad Al-Khalifa, the desert kingdom's crown prince, who reasoned his presence would be 'inappropriate'. He has repeatedly re-iterated his conviction that he will not step down, and is determined to remain in the post until the end of his fourth term in October, 2009.
