FIA president Mosley hints he may stand for 5th term

PARIS — Max Mosley may run for a fifth term as FIA president after Formula One teams announced plans to break away from the sport because of a dispute over a planned budget cap.

In a letter sent to FIA members on Tuesday, Mosley said he felt the need to remain to deal with the eight teams threatening to start a rival series. Last year, Mosley said he would not run for president again after winning a confidence vote.

“Over recent weeks it has become increasingly clear that one of the objectives of the dissident teams is that I should resign as president of the FIA,” Mosley wrote. “In light of the attack on the mandate you have entrusted to me, I must now reflect on whether my original decision not to stand for re-election was indeed the right one.”

Mosley told federation members in the letter that the FIA was preparing legal action, if necessary, against the F1 teams — Ferrari, McLaren, BMW Sauber, Renault, Toyota, Red Bull, Toro Rosso and Brawn GP — that are planning to breakaway. On Sunday, Mosley had said FIA halted legal proceedings to encourage reconciliation.

The problem stems from a proposed $60-million budget cap for 2010 that Mosley says is “essential” for the survival of independent teams.

“Without the independent teams, the championship would depend entirely on the car manufacturers who, of course, have always come and gone as it suited them,” Mosley wrote. “It is extraordinary that at a time when all five manufacturers involved are in great financial difficulty and relying on taxpayers money, their Formula One teams should threaten a breakaway series in order to avoid reducing their Formula One costs.”

Despite being caught in a tabloid sting operation involving five prostitutes, the 69-year-old Englishman won a vote of confidence in June 2008 allowing him to stay until his fourth term ends in October.

Mosley has been the president of the FIA, the international automobile federation which governs Formula One racing, since 1993.