Mosley hater Stewart calls for his head

The call comes from F1 legend Sir Jackie Stewart, who believes Mosley is to blame for the crisis which could see eight teams leave the sport. Mosley's proposal to introduce a £40million budget cap was rejected by the F1 Teams Association. FOTA have threatened to form a breakaway series next season.

And three-time world champion Stewart said: "It's a bad thing to have a split, but I think that has been forced upon the teams, particularly the large multi-national corporations involved in it.

"When you're talking about Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Toyota, Ferrari and Renault, these are big companies that feel they are being pushed around by the governing body in a way that is inappropriate.

"I think they do want Max to go because I think frankly some of the decisions made over the years have been very questionable, and a lot of people are kind of fed up with the dictatorial attitude. The trouble is Max has gone too far with this and the teams have suddenly said 'I'm sorry, we can't take it any more'. It may well be that Max Mosley has to go. He has a great position of power, but big trees do blow over."

Stewart feels it is the teams who are in a position of strength at present and that Mosley must be the one to yield.

He added: "Whether there are further negotiations, who knows, but they (the teams) seem to be very well joined up.

"I think Max has to give quite a lot because the teams have come to realize that economically they can manage their own business quite well, thank you very much. The FIA often say they are not the commercial arm of F1 and the money side of it is not their business. But right now they are making it their business and that is why there has been the fall-out. I hope in some way that they can come to some agreement.

"Bernie Ecclestone must surely play a part in this as well because he has the commercial rights. He has to also influence Max on how he goes about his business. He has been doing it with a very imperial role for probably too long. But empires do come to an end, as Julius Caesar found out."