Max Mosley

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Max Rufus Mosley (born 1940, London, England) is currently serving his fourth term as president of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile.

Mosley is the second son of the British fascist leader Sir Oswald Mosley and Diana Mitford. He attended Christ Church, Oxford, graduating with a degree in physics in 1961. During his time at Oxford he was Secretary of the Oxford Union. He studied law at Gray's Inn in London and qualified as a barrister in 1964. He raced in club events in the UK during 1966 and 1967 followed by Formula Two for the London Racing Team and with Frank Williams's Formula Two team in 1968. He retired from driving in 1969 and went into racing car production as one of the founders of March. He met with some success in Formula One, March finishing third in the Constructors' Championship in 1970 and 1971, with Ronnie Peterson second in the drivers' World Championship in 1971 and great success in the profitable business of selling Formula Two and other types of customer cars.

In the early 1970s he became involved with FOCA, the Formula One Constructors Association, a union of teams created to defend the teams' rights and maintain their collective control of the sport. At the end of 1977 Mosley officially withdrew from constructing and became legal advisor to FOCA. He was later elected as president of the FISA (Fédération Internationale du Sport Automobile, a committee of the FIA. A later restructuring of the FIA led to the demise of FISA and Mosley was elected president of the FIA.

At the time Bernie Ecclestone was the president of FOCA and Jean Marie Balestre president of FISA. The two clashed repeatedly over various regulation and financial issues, fighting for control of the sport. Mosley helped resolve this debate by drawing up the Concorde Agreement, giving FISA control of the rules and FOCA control of promotion and television rights.

Shortly thereafter Mosley disappeared entirely from Formula One for three years, but returned in 1986 to become president of the FISA Manufacturers' Commission and establish the Simtek Research construction team. He sold his share of Simtek in 1991 when he was elected president of the FISA, deposing Jean Marie Balestre by 43 votes to 29. He resigned a year later, stating that he would rather be elected on his own merits than the mistakes of his predecessor; the FISA immediately re-elected him for a four-year term. In 1993 he was elected president of the FIA replacing Jean Marie Balestre. The FISA was then merged into the FIA as its sporting arm. He was elected to his second term as president of the FIA in October 1997, his third in 2001 and fourth in 2005.

Fans have criticized Mosley for many of his rule changes and blamed him for situations such as that surrounding the 2005 United States Grand Prix.

In June 2004 Mosley announced that he would step down from his position in October of that year. However, in July 2004 he rescinded his decision after the FIA Senate called for him to stay on. His term expires in October 2009 although speculation remains that he will step down before that.

Mosley and Bernie Ecclestone retain almost complete authority over Formula One racing; amongst other events, the FIA currently regulates the Formula One World Championship, the World Rally Championship, and the GT Championship.

Mosley for a time was interested in becoming a Conservative MP but like his father switched his allegiance to the Labour Party after meeting its then leader, John Smith, in 1994.