F1: Mosley - "to go or not to go, that is the question."

It is almost ironic that the driving force behind the removal of Max Mosley from the FIA would be an Italian - for Sir Oswald Mosley, the UK's most famous fascist and father of Max, was a big supporter of Benito Mussolini, even styling his "Blackshirt" supporters loosely after the Italian dictator's Brown Shirts.

Oswald counted amongst his friends Adolf Hitler and Josef Goebbels, reportedly the only two guests at his wedding to Nancy Mitford, formerly married to the heir to the Guinness family fortune. Oswald reportedly raised, from the famous supporters of jackboots, a substantial amount to fund his UK fascist movement . The German and Austrian teams turned on Max, too.

Max spent his formative years in France, allegedly because his family background got in the way in England. Renault are happy to see him go, too.

Oswald was a quiet supporter of Irish nationalism and he once suggested that India and Japan should be gifted nuclear weapons technology. Force India (which used to be owned by Irishman Eddie Jordan) is one of only two teams to have currently signed up, unconditionally, for F1's 2010 season.

In the last days of Max Mosley's reign at the FIA Max was really starting to get up the noses of the only two groups of people that really matter: the teams and the fans. Having plumbed depths by calling members of FOTA "loony," Max attracted the ire of the outspoken but usually polite and careful Flavio Briatore - the Italian who ran Benetton which mutated into Renault (and now does most of its work in Britain but don't tell the French or the Italians). Briatore became - by his standards - almost unhinged. Without actually telling Mosley to *** off, he made it clear that if Mosley was going to start getting personal, the world of Formula One knew much more about Mosley than his occasional alleged outing in an SS uniform: and retaliation would be swift and brutal. The jackboots, he implied, would be on the other foot.

And so Wednesday's meeting happened.

But Max does not intend to go down without a fight. Having said, on Wednesday, that he will step down in October he is now taking umbridge at Luca di Montezemolo who had at some point in the recent arguments described Max as a "dictator." In part, Max's upset has been driven by Italian excitement : the Italian media has proclaimed that it was the Italians that pushed Mosley out, and Mosley blames di Montezemolo for that which he says is at best misleading. In a letter to di Montezemolo, yesterday, Mosley reportedly wrote"A fundamental part of this agreement was that we would both present a positive and truthful account. You've suggested I was a dictator, an accusation grossly insulting." *

di Montezemolo was gracious - or cutting: it is difficult to know which but one suspects, given the man's unquestionable style, it's the latter. Speaking at a press conference he said "We are pleased to thank the president of the FIA for his decision to leave the FIA in October, for the work that he has done -– particularly for safety because this was, and still is, a big priority in Formula One and the sport."

And, with the kind of grace that is usually found only in a coup de grace, he used language in a way that only the English, Italians and French can: he thanked the FIA for "approving and accepting FOTA's proposals." No mention of the agreement that Mosley is so het up about - and in relation to which Mosley now says he considers his options open.

So, in the best tradition of Formula One, it's all going to go down to the wire. FOTA have no races booked and Formula One has almost no teams, if the FIA decide to sling out Wednesday's decision. Mosley says he has "full authority, at least until October."

Clearly not intending to be a lame-duck president in the style of US politics, Mosley is now - bizarrely - in a stronger position than before he said he would resign. Until then FOTA had certainty: if they wanted to race, it would be on their terms in a competition they organised. When the agreement was reached, it was on the understanding, the teams say, that they would effectively manage Formula One themselves, including working out budgets and assistance for less affluent teams. If Mosley is going to continue to crack the whip, the FOTA may be unable to put plans into effect until after he has gone - if he does.

The former politician and lawyer may just have made the kind of manoeuvre that his dad's pals failed to pull off when they were backed into a corner.

==

* hint to Americans who, it is often said (with the exception of Bostonians) don't understand irony. Max's comments are ironic in the most delicious way.