World Council pre-votes on Mosley!

Radovan Novak is much in the news today for his remarks to a Czech radio station about who was responsible for what Max Mosley claims was an investigation into his private life. The end result of this was the sordid revelations that have filled the newspapers of late.

The sound of back-pedaling has been very clear as Novak has sought to avoid legal action (it is too late to worry about embarrassment).

Further study of the content of the interview reveals not only some interesting tales about how he came to have his FIA current position, but also about what he claims was an unofficial vote of 24 of the 26 members of the FIA World Motor Sport Council, which suggests that Mosley still has some support within the FIA. The two people not involved in this alleged process were Mosley himself and Bernie Ecclestone.

It is not clear why the latter was not involved.

According to Novak the result of this straw poll was six abstentions, nine votes for Mosley and nine votes against. Novak went on to say that it is 50-50 as to whether Mosley will survive the FIA General Assembly meeting as he reckons the sporting clubs will vote with Mosley and the touring clubs will vote against. Most sources we have spoken to seem to think that Mosley will get more of the touring votes than Novak suggests. What is interesting about this is that if Mosley can only get half of the WMSC to support him, it is unlikely that he will get more than half of the sporting clubs.

One must consider the possibility that Novak's remarks are not simply those of a loose-lipped official but rather are designed to try to swing votes. More at Grandprix.com