Stewart: An outsider must replace Mosley

UPDATE Former Grand Prix winner, Jacky Ickx, has declared that he believes Max Mosley should resign as President of the FIA after the allegations made by the British newspaper 'News of the World'. By asking the resignation of Mosley, Ickx added his voice to the statements of several manufacturers, national bodies and former F1 drivers who believe Mosley can't stay as President of the governing body.

Speaking to the website of German newspaper Welt, Jacky Ickx said: "Regardless of how this story becomes public, Mosley cannot continue to represent such an association – even though I regret this, as he was a good president."

04/06/08 Sir Jackie Stewart believes the end-game playing out around Max Mosley, the wounded president of Formula One's ruling body, the FIA, will result in a sea change in the way the sport is run. Despite the predicament in which the sport finds itself, there is no immediate mechanism for challenging Mosley's authority. Stewart believes too much of the ruling machinery is opaque and unsuited to a 21st century sport funded by global business.

The next few days are critical to Mosley's strategy of holding on to power. Stewart believes that the withdrawal from the FIA umbrella of those motoring organizations that have already voiced their disapproval of Mosley's private life is the most likely development. Should that happen, Mosley would find it difficult to resist the potential domino effect, leaving the way clear for change.

Stewart, who admitted a number of approaches for him to take a leading role in the administration, believes Mosley's replacement must not be an F1 insider, ruling out former drivers and former team principals.

"There's a unique opportunity for the sport to be restructured, for the FIA to be restructured," Stewart said. "I believe it can't be someone from within the sport. It needs to be a captain of industry, a CEO of standing, man or woman."

"I've had a lot of approaches. But this cannot be a racing driver. I don't care who he is, how many championships he has won. No racing driver I know of is well enough prepared to take on that job. It needs to be someone who is expert in economics and business structures. It cannot be a retiring team-owner or team principal. The alignments are all wrong."

Stewart also called for the new regime to be more accountable, with a greater degree of transparency. "The organization has to be democratic," he urged. "This is not how it has been done historically, but other companies work very well with a democratic structure.

"The FIA need a whole new infrastructure to support them. This is the most capitally invested sport in the world. It has to be managed and regulated accordingly." Daily Telegraph