Autoblog

The world of motorsports was shocked by a report of a video tape which surfaced, allegedly showing FIA president Max Mosley participating in a bizarre sadomasochistic orgy. The reports emanate from British tabloid News of the World, but have been spreading rapidly across mainstream media and the motoring press.

The video reportedly depicts Mosley engaging the services of five prostitutes in London to stage a perverse reenactment of a Nazi concentration camp in which Mosley plays both victim and oppressor, alternately receiving lashes from a dominatrix and barking orders in German to the prostitutes dressed in pseudo-Auschwitz uniforms. The son of infamous wartime British fascist leader Oswald Mosley, who married Max's mother Diana in the presence of Adolf Hitler at a ceremony in the home of Nazi arch-propagandist Joseph Goebbels, Mosley had tried to help resuscitate his father's fascist political career before leaving politics for the world of motor racing. Meanwhile Mosley's closest allies include former Ferrari chief Jean Todt (the son of a Holocaust survivor) and Jewish business mogul Bernie Ecclestone, who has publicly come to Mosley's defense. Mosley is reportedly considering pursuing legal action against News of the World, while sources suggest the World Council of the FIA may be preparing a vote of no confidence in Mosley's leadership. In the meantime it's business as usual for Mosley, who is heading to Bahrain to preside over the grand prix there next weekend. (Thanks to David who brought this story to our attention.)

[Source: News of the World and The Times of London]

As we reported yesterday, the Ferrari board agreed to dismiss Jean Todt from his position as CEO. But we wouldn't be so quick to dismiss the Frenchman altogether. Todt has been known as one of the busiest people in the industry, and while everyone deserves a little downtime, at 62 Todt isn't expected to disappear so quickly.

Rumors have been circulating for years that Todt could succeed Max Mosley as president of the FIA, the international motorsport governing body that regulates Formula One, among many other racing series. Those rumors are only intensifying in the wake of Todt's resignation. Todt and Mosley are known to share a close relationship, and the current president is not expected to run for another term when his current one expires next year. The speculation breeds as well on the fact that even after stepping down from the top spot at Ferrari, Todt remains the Scuderia's representative on the FIA council, leaving him with a foothold in the governing body that could come in handy when it heads into elections in October 2009.

[Source: GrandPrix.com, Photo by Bryn Lennon/Getty]