29/05/2010
NEWS STORY
Former FIA president Max Mosley - under whose watch the sport's governing body was often dubbed Ferrari International Assistance - has accused the Italian team of trying to sway FIA decisions.
Speaking to the Daily Mail - ironically one of his fiercest critics in the wake of the sex scandal that dominated the sport in 2008 - Mosley claims that the Maranello outfit attempted to influence the sport's governing body at the height of the double diffuser row last year.
"Luca does have this silly idea that if it is Ferrari then it is OK," said the Englishman, referring to Ferrari president, Luca di Montezemolo. "When we had all this stuff about the double-diffuser he was on the phone every day saying, 'You have got to sort out the Court of Appeal and make sure we win'.
"He didn't put it as baldly as that," Mosley admitted, "but that is what he said. I said, 'Luca, I'm sorry but first of all they wouldn't take any notice and secondly I am not going to do it'. I couldn't. He took that quite personally. He honestly thought I would."
The appeal against the double diffuser - which didn't only involve Ferrari - was eventually turned down, the Italian team going on to enjoy its worst season - in terms of the championship - since 1993.
However, over the summer the relationship between Mosley and Ferrari worsened, the Italian team spearheading the fight against the plan to introduce a budget cap, even to the extent of announcing its withdrawal from the sport.
Then, in the wake of Mosley's announcement that he would not seek to stand for re-election, Ferrari's undisguised glee led to the Englishman having a temporary change of heart.
The accusations of Ferrari bias at the FIA under Mosley go back to the late 90s though the 1999 Malaysian GP is the most widely cited incident, the Maranello outfit overturning the decision to exclude its drivers from the result after it was claimed they used illegal barge boards.
"Ferrari won that appeal quite rightly on the technicality," said Mosley. "Two years later I was at the Turin Motor Show and I was invited into a little area where the Fiat people were and Gianni Agnelli himself came up to me. He said, 'Thank you so much for what you did over the barge boards'. He honestly thought it had been fixed."
Of more interest to many however, is the fact that while Ferrari receives a special financial bonus in honour of its long history in the sport, who was it that agreed to the Italian team being given special rights including the opportunity to veto rule changes, a move that only came to light in 2009 at a time when Mosley was attempting to destabilise the newly formed Formula One Teams Association (FOTA).
And all this not only at a time when Ferrari is celebrating its 800th Formula One World Championship Grand Prix, but at a time when the new FIA president, Jean Todt, is being rightly praised for his just, sensible and low key approach to the role.