In a curious interview with Camilla Long for The Times, outgoing FIA president Max Mosley is keen to play down talk that he will run things from behind the scenes should his preferred successor, Jean Todt, prove successful.

While many within the F1 paddock have their own reasons for not wanting to see Todt elected president later this month, others are more concerned that Mosley will remain in the shadows continuing to pull the strings. The fact that Todt will almost certainly retain Mosley's team - Donnelly, Purnell and Woods - merely adds to the fear that the Frenchman will continue the work of his predecessor... good, bad and ugly.

"They've got this theory that I'm going to be this malevolent presence behind the scenes," says Mosley. "That's absolutely not true. I would never call anyone and say I think you should do such and such.

"If somebody calls me and says, 'What do you think?' I'll tell them but I'm not going to interfere," he adds, a comment in stark contrast to his recent letter to Prince Feisal of Jordan in which he appeared to suggest that member clubs voting for Ari Vatanen in the forthcoming election can expect to be marginalised in the aftermath.

Indeed, one might say that Mosley's open support of Todt could be widely perceived as interfering, however, the Englishman insists that the Frenchman is the best man for the job, "He's a brilliant manager," he tells Camilla, who takes time out to inform us that she is wearing "6 inch stilettos".

Asked if all the recent scandals have tarnished F1, Mosley says "no", while adding that there are no skeletons in Todt's closet.

Talking of scandals, and mindful of the fact that many within the media are loathe to cross him, Camilla ends the interview by asking what the repercussions might be if Mosley doesn't like the finished article.

"If I don't like the article, I'll ring you up and I'll say I think I should spank you," says the president of the FIA, the body which represent the interests of motoring organisations and car users around the world, "and if you say that sounds like a lovely idea then we'll arrange it.

"I'll arrange two young ladies for us," he adds.

One has to wonder what a journo with the Guardian might make of such comments.