Mosley future depends on F1 overhaul

FIA president Max Mosley says the progress of his efforts to make Formula One cost-effective will determine whether he stands for re-election as the head of the governing body.

Mosley's current term ends in October this year, and he had previously been adamant that he would not seek re-election for a fifth time.

But now that he is embroiled in a radical overhaul of F1's regulations and working with the Formula One Teams' Association to slash costs, Mosley believes it would be irresponsible to leave the role if the championship's future was still unclear.

"It is interesting at the moment," Mosley told selected media including autosport.com. "To walk away at the moment would be to leave it in a state of uncertainty which is probably not the right thing to do, but I don't have to think about it until June or July.

"Being very frank about it, a lot of people are saying you need to stay because of this situation and (what) I really have to ask myself is 1) should I stay and that would mean 18 years running the sport, that is an awfully long time and then to do another 4 years, and 2) do I want to? When you start being in something too long maybe you get a bit stale, so there is a case for new people.

"If we got a lot of the problems solved between now and then and could give someone a relatively clean sheet of paper then I think it would be okay (to hand over to someone else)."

Mosley added that he had mixed feelings about the prospect of continuing his presidency.

"I wake up some days and think, yeah I am going to sort them out, and other days I think, do I really care?" he said. "I spend all day long trying to solve other people's problems and in effect stop people going bust and making them money, and in return get roundly abused, do I really want to do this?"

He admitted that the calls for his resignation during the scandal surrounding his private life last summer had made him more determined to stay on at the time.

"It is funny that," Mosley said. "When everyone says they want you, you think about it. The moment someone says they want to kick you out it all changes... we had that last summer."

When asked if he had alternative plans should he decide not to stand again or was defeated in an election, Mosley replied: "I have a stack of books I want to read..."

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