Mosley calls extraordinary FIA meeting

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By Jonathan Noble    Thursday, April 3rd 2008, 14:47 GMT

FIA president Max Mosley has called an Extraordinary General Assembly meeting of motor racing's governing body to discuss the fallout of the tabloid revelations into his private life.

On the back of a raft of calls for the FIA to take action over the matter, Mosley has asked the president of the FIA Senate to arrange the meeting for the earliest possible date.

In a statement issued by the FIA on Thursday, it said: "The full membership of the FIA will be invited to attend the meeting at which the widespread publicity following an apparently illegal invasion of the FIA President's privacy will be discussed.

"The FIA has noted that Mr Mosley is preparing legal proceedings against the newspaper in question.

"It is anticipated that the meeting will take place in Paris. It will be held on the earliest practicable date. No further comments will be made by the FIA regarding the matter at this stage."

The move by Mosley comes after Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Honda Racing and Toyota all issued statements expressing their unease at the stories of Mosley's private life that appeared in the News of the World last week.

Autosport.com understands Mosley has called the meeting because he wants to provide the FIA will total clarity of his position.

The Senate is formed of over 200 members so it is likely it will take some time before the meeting is arranged.

It is understood that Mosley is to issue another statement tomorrow.

Despite several calls for Mosley to resign, he indicated in a letter he wrote to FIA members earlier this week that he was fully committed to carrying on in his role.

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Czech official apologises to McLaren

By Pablo Elizalde    Wednesday, May 14th 2008, 15:27 GMT

McLaren said on Wednesday they had received an apology from the head of the Czech Automobile Association after news reports suggested he had hinted the team could have been involved in bringing to light the sex scandal surrounding FIA president Max Mosley.

The British squad had written a letter to Radovan Novak earlier this month, asking for clarification following comments attributed to him in which he suggested McLaren and team boss Ron Dennis were involved in a set-up against Mosley.

Both Dennis and McLaren have categorically denied any involvement.

McLaren said on Wednesday, however, that Novak had made it clear in his response to them that he never thought the team or Dennis had anything to do with the Mosley affair.

The team said in a statement that Novak had apologised for the misunderstanding.

"McLaren is pleased to be able to confirm that it has been contacted by Mr Radovan Novak to explain the background that led to certain remarks related to McLaren and Mr Ron Dennis being made in an interview that he gave to Radio Impuls in the Czech Republic," the team said in a statement.

"Mr Novak has asked us to make it clear that he does not believe that either McLaren or Mr Dennis were involved in the events referred to and that the remarks are not representative of his views.

"Mr Novak has apologised for the misunderstanding and McLaren and Mr Dennis have thanked him for this gracious and swift reaction."