Ecclestone wants Mosley to accept defeat

Ecclestone putting pressure on Mosley to resign

The public stance has been one of constant support in the face of blistering worldwide condemnation, but behind the closed doors of his offices in London's fashionable district of Kensington, Bernie Ecclestone is turning up the pressure to resign on Max Mosley, his old friend and the president of the FIA, Formula One's governing body.

Ecclestone, who could claim to be the creator of the modern Formula One, is increasingly alarmed at the reaction to tabloid tales of Mosley's alleged Nazi orgy with five prostitutes. The Mosley affair even cast a shadow over the funeral on Wednesday of Richard Lloyd, the motor racing entrepreneur who died in a plane crash last month. Some of the most famous names in motor racing – including Damon Hill and John Watson, the former drivers – were in the church in Brackley, Northamptonshire, and then met in the British Racing Drivers' Club (BRDC) at Silverstone, where there was one hot topic of conversation.

Overwhelming opinion at the BRDC was that Mosley must stop fighting his corner and go with some dignity. One close friend of Ecclestone said last night: “President Mosley is in danger of becoming motor racing's President Mugabe."

The drip, drip of unrest from within the boardrooms of some of Formula One's big sponsors is also having an effect. Ecclestone did not become a billionaire building Formula One into box-office business without being astute and his soundings tell him that the time has come for Mosley to accept defeat. Times Online