Defiant Max Mosley attacks F1 rebels

Max Mosley, the president of motorsport's governing body the FIA, has indicated that he will not back down over his plans for Formula 1 or resign, and has questioned whether his enemies in the sport have the financial clout to go it alone, as they are threatening to do.

Writing to members of the FIA, he said: "Over recent weeks it has become clear that one of the objectives of the dissident teams is that I should resign as president of the FIA. It is for the FIA membership, and the FIA membership alone, to decide on its democratically elected leadership, not the motor industry and still less the individuals the industry employs to run its Formula One teams."

Nick Fry of Brawn GP, one of the rebel Fota teams, was unmoved by Mosley's attack, saying: ""The teams have clearly stated how they see the future. We have entered the championship with conditions but now it is a question of whether they will be fulfilled."WHAT THEY ARE SAYING
Alan Henry, the Guardian: "The simmering confrontation between the FIA and the Formula One teams threatening to start a breakaway championship looks set to intensify as the sport's governing body holds a meeting of its World Motor Sport Council in Paris. It will also mark a face-to-face encounter of the FIA president, Max Mosley, and Ferrari's president, Luca di Montezemolo, one of the most hardline dissident team chiefs and a vocal critic of Mosley's autocratic style."

Edward Gorman, the Times: "Max Mosley knows only one way out when he is cornered and that is to fight. With the Formula One world waiting on his every word and wondering whether he will consider standing down for the good of the sport, the president of the FIA issued a defiant call to arms yesterday. The gist of it is that he is not going to give in to the eight 'dissident' Formula One teams who are planning a breakaway championship and he views the entire row over budget-capping and his role as president as an attack on the 'democratic mandate' he has been given by members as leader of the world governing body of motor sport."

Tom Cary, Daily Telegraph: "Eight teams last week announced their intention to run their own series from 2010. Tired of what they perceive to be Mosley's autocratic style of governance, it is understood they will no longer work with the 69 year-old. Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo, who has a seat on the council, is expected to communicate the teams' feelings to the WMSC on Wednesday. Commercial rights holder Bernie Ecclestone, a long-standing ally of Mosley's, will also be present. However, Mosley is prepared to face down his detractors and indicated on Tuesday that he may stand for a fifth term of office once his mandate expires in October." ·