Back in the Seventies, fed up with the dictatorial way in which the sport was being run, the constructors taking part in the Formula One World Championship got together to present their side of the argument at meetings and make sure their interests were served by the sport.
The most vociferous of the team leaders, and therefore the best man to lead the charge, was the principal of the Brabham team: Bernie Ecclestone. To help represent their organization's interests, the constructors found, in their own ranks, one of the more spectacular lawyers in the land and one of the brainchildren behind MARCH Engineering: Max Mosley.
For years and years, Mosley butted heads with Jean-Marie Balestre, head the FIA, the sporting equivalent of the FIA (seperate entities at that time), and the French equivalent thereof, over various aspects of the governance of the sport. After a particularly perplexing incident where Ayrton Senna was disqualified for a collision with teammate Alain Prost (a Frenchman), it was widely thought that Balestre acted on behalf of his countryman. Mosley picked up the presidency of FISA (the governing body), then managed to take the FIA itself from Balestre. Bernie Ecclestone was given control of the commercial rights, and the stage was set for the 16 years leading up to today.
As with all dictators who replace other dictators, the same problems tend to exist, but are represented by a different face. Fast-forward a decade and a half, and we have nearly the exact same situation that we had from the mid-Seventies until 1993. Max and Bernie began running the sport with a "my way or the highway" mentality, making new rules with reckless abandon and little consultation, and cracking down on the way money was distributed within the sport.
Naturally, the teams came up with a union to make their opinion heard, the teams came up with a vociferous leader to state their case (Luca di Montezemelo), and they've been butting heads with Max and Bernie.
Unlike the Max-and-Bernie vs. Balestre deal, this one was resolved much faster but in much the same fashion: Max Mosely will no longer be a part of Formula One and the FIA.
Despite the fact that the budget cap was a splendid idea -- one of the few that Max had made as FIA president -- the teams simply saw it as more strong-arming by the governor of the sport. The worst part is that Max seemed to give no consideration to the cost-cutting measures that the teams were placing on the table. Instead of being seen as someone trying to save F1 in this tough economy, Max continued to be seen as someone who didn't car about the wants of the people actually involved in the show.
By doing the exact same thing that he was hired by Bernie to fight in the Seventies and Eighties, then facing the exact same fate as predecessor Jean-Marie Balestre, Max Mosely has shown himself to be truly ignorant of history. Seriously...after being on the other side of the argument for so long, what did he think was going to happen when he strong-armed the teams with rules changes?
What we need to worry about now is who will be running things as we move on into the future. If he could reconcile his differences with some of the people in the sport, my early vote goes to Jackie Stewart, with Ron Dennis in a close second.
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