In a letter sent to the members of the governing body on Tuesday, whose content was revealed by British magazine AUTOSPORT, Mosley said he will not step down as FIA president as a result of the teams' threats, but only if the members of the WMSC will consider it to be necessary.
“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. Last year you offered me your confidence and, as I wrote to you on May 16, 2008, it was my intention not to seek re-election in October this year,” said the letter.
“However, 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.”
“It is for the FIA membership, and the FIA membership alone, to decide on its democratically elected leadership, not the motor industry and still less the individuals the industry employs to run its Formula 1 teams,” added Mosley.
The FOTA representatives – mostly Flavio Briatore and John Howett – insisted that no deal between the teams' body and the FIA could be taken into account as long as Mosley was on the other side of the table. Those attacks were also answered by the FIA president.
“This is an attack on the FIA's right to regulate its Formula 1 World Championship but, worse, it is a wholly unjustified criticism of and direct challenge to the entire structure and purpose of the FIA.”
“No president of the FIA could allow this to go unanswered...we are also preparing legal proceedings in case these are needed to protect the FIA's rights in its Championship and to discourage any dissident Formula 1 team from engaging in illegal acts,” added the letter.
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