'F1 has lost all credibility'

Former Minardi boss Paul Stoddart, on the day Max Mosley won a privacy case against a British tabloid, says Formula One has lost its credibility by keeping the FIA president in office.

Mosley was awarded £60,000 (Dh438,000) in compensation after disproving a story that appeared in the News of the World earlier this year.

But Stoddart says it is too late for the sport and that Mosley's indecent actions are to blame.

"Various heads of state that go to Grands Prix don't want to be seen with him," he said. "The institution [FIA] is completely without credibility."

Stoddart added: "The Crown Prince of Bahrain does not want Mosley in his country while the Australian prime minister refuses to have a meeting with him.

"There are big public companies that probably won't want to be associated with an institution that Mosley, having been exposed like this, has been representing and will continue to represent."

Meanwhile, former F1 driver Sir Stirling Moss credited Mosley with helping motorsport grow, but said it would be difficult for him to continue in his role as president of the FIA. "He's done an enormous amount for motor racing around the world, not just Formula One," the 78-year-old said.

"I can understand how people feel about him, but I like Max. He's an interesting and amusing person. However, I don't think his position is tenable – he does not hold the stature he held before."

Mosley was influential in Abu Dhabi securing a Grand Prix for 2009 and UAE rally legend Mohammed Ben Sulayem has in the past given his vocal backing to the beleaguered FIA chief.

Mosley won a vote of confidence to stay on as president of the FIA – a position he has held since 1993 – after the publication of the story in May, shortly before the Bahrain Grand Prix.

More than a third of delegates did not back the 68-year-old, but he won 103 of 169 votes.

President of the American Automobile Association, Robert Darbelnet, said he was disappointed with the outcome of the vote and was considering withdrawing his country's membership from the FIA.

Along with the Americans, the Japanese, French, Australian and Spanish automobile federations all voted against Mosley as did the German motoring federation ADAC – Europe's largest automobile organisation – who froze all its activities with the FIA.

Mosley will reach the end of his presidential tenure in October 2009 and the disgraced motorsport head has vowed to continue in his role in F1, despite the repeated calls for his resignation.