Max Rufus Mosley was a British businessman, lawyer and racing driver.
87 Facts About Max Mosley
2.
Max Mosley served as president of the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile, a non-profit association which represents the interests of motoring organisations and car users worldwide and is the governing body for international motorsports including Formula One.
3.
Max Mosley dealt with legal and commercial matters for the company between 1969 and 1977 and became its representative at the Formula One Constructors' Association, the body that represents Formula One constructors.
4.
Together with Bernie Ecclestone, Max Mosley represented FOCA at the FIA and in its dealings with race organisers.
5.
Max Mosley was elected president of FISA in 1991 and became president of the FIA, FISA's parent body, in 1993.
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Max Mosley identified his major achievement as FIA President as the promotion of the European New Car Assessment Programme.
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Max Mosley promoted increased safety and the use of green technologies in motor racing.
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Max Mosley successfully sued the newspaper that published the allegations and maintained his position as FIA president.
9.
Max Mosley stood down at the end of his term in 2009 and was replaced by his preferred successor, Jean Todt.
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Max Mosley was the youngest son of Sir Oswald Max Mosley, former leader of the British Union of Fascists, and Diana Mitford.
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Max Mosley was educated in France, Germany, and Britain before going on to attend university at Christ Church, Oxford, where he graduated with a degree in physics.
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Max Mosley then changed to law and was called to the bar in 1964.
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Max Mosley commented that the association of his surname with fascism stopped him from developing his interest in politics further, although he briefly worked for the Conservative Party in the early 1980s.
14.
Max Mosley was the subject of Michael Shevloff's 2020 biographical documentary Max Mosley.
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Max Mosley was born on 13 April 1940 in London, in the early years of the Second World War.
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Max Mosley's father was Sir Oswald Mosley and his mother was Diana, Lady Mosley, one of the Mitford sisters.
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Max Mosley was a nephew of Deborah Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire and first cousin of Peregrine Cavendish, 12th Duke of Devonshire.
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Max Mosley was third cousin of Winston Churchill MP, the grandson of the British prime minister and fifth cousin of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother.
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Max Mosley's father had been a Labour minister, and Member of Parliament for both the Conservative and Labour parties in the 1920s before leaving mainstream politics and becoming leader of the British Union of Fascists in the 1930s.
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Sir Oswald and Lady Max Mosley were released from detention at HMP Holloway on 16 November 1943, provoking widespread public protests.
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At the age of 13, Max Mosley was sent to Stein an der Traun in Germany for two years, where he learned to speak fluent German.
22.
Max Mosley attended Christ Church at Oxford University, graduating with a degree in physics in 1961.
23.
In 1960, Max Mosley introduced his father to Robert Skidelsky, one of Max Mosley's contemporaries at the university, later a biographer of his father.
24.
From 1961 to 1964, Max Mosley was a member of the Territorial Army, Parachute Regiment.
25.
Trevor Grundy, a central figure in the UM's Youth Movement, writes of the 16-year-old Max Mosley painting the flash and circle symbol on walls in London on the night of the Soviet Union's invasion of Hungary.
26.
Max Mosley says Mosley organised a couple of large parties as a way "to get in with lively, ordinary, normal young people, girls as well as boys, and attract them to the Movement by showing that we were like them and didn't go on about Hitler and Mussolini, Franco and British Fascism all the time".
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Max Mosley rarely discussed his early political involvement with his father.
28.
Max Mosley was later cleared at Old Street Magistrates' Court on the grounds that he was trying to protect his father.
29.
Max Mosley felt his name would be a handicap and later said "If I had a completely open choice in my life, I would have chosen party politics, but because of my name, that's impossible".
30.
Max Mosley was attracted by the sport, and once qualified as a barrister, began teaching law in the evenings to earn enough money to start racing cars himself.
31.
At national level in the UK, Max Mosley competed in over 40 races in 1966 and 1967; he won 12 and set several class lap records.
32.
Max Mosley's best result that year was an eighth place at a non-championship race at Monza.
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Max Mosley kept out of trouble and generally used his head.
34.
Max Mosley, recalling March's first F1 race, the 1970 South African Grand Prix.
35.
In 1969, after two large accidents due to breakages on his Lotus car, Max Mosley decided that "it was evident that I wasn't going to be World Champion" and retired from driving.
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Max Mosley played a key role in publicising the new outfit.
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Max Mosley negotiated sponsorship from tyre maker Firestone and oil additive manufacturer STP.
38.
Amon stayed to the end of the year, but Max Mosley succeeded in "restructuring" his contract, saving the company some much-needed money.
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The Firestone and STP sponsorship was insufficient and Max Mosley failed to attract a large backer for 1971.
40.
Max Mosley negotiated a deal for the team to use Alfa Romeo engines in a third car, bringing much needed funding.
41.
Max Mosley organised extensive test sessions for the 1971 cars for journalists and drivers, and arranged a successful scheme for drivers to rent cars and engines for the season, rather than buying them outright.
42.
From 1969, Max Mosley was invited to represent March at the Grand Prix Constructors' Association, which negotiated joint deals on behalf of its member teams.
43.
Max Mosley's nomination was blocked by French, Italian, and German manufacturers.
44.
In 1982, the year after the first Concorde Agreement was signed, Max Mosley left his role at FOCA, and Formula One, to work for the Conservative Party.
45.
Max Mosley returned to motorsport in 1986, with the support of Ecclestone and Balestre, to become president of the FISA Manufacturers' Commission, the successor body to the BPICA with a seat on the FISA World Council.
46.
Max Mosley sold his share of Simtek in 1991, when elected president of the FISA.
47.
In 1991, Max Mosley challenged Balestre for the presidency of FISA.
48.
Max Mosley said that his decision to challenge the Frenchman was prompted by Balestre's reported intervention on behalf of his countryman Alain Prost to ensure that race stewards disqualified Brazilian driver Ayrton Senna from the 1989 Japanese Grand Prix.
49.
Max Mosley campaigned on the basis that Balestre, who was president of the FIA and of the Federation Francaise du Sport Automobile, could not effectively manage all these roles together.
50.
Max Mosley said that no-one challenged Balestre because they were afraid of the consequences and suggested that the FISA President should not interfere with F1, which could be left to run itself.
51.
Max Mosley won the FISA presidency by 43 votes to 29; Balestre remained as FIA president.
52.
Max Mosley resigned a year later, fulfilling a promise made during his election campaign to seek a re-affirmation of his mandate.
53.
Max Mosley did not go to Senna's funeral but attended that of Ratzenberger.
54.
Watkins, who learned of his new role by hearing Max Mosley announce it on the radio, has called it a "novel and revolutionary approach".
55.
Max Mosley was elected to his second term as president of the FIA in October 1997.
56.
The TV Company argued that Ecclestone and Max Mosley were in breach of commercial clauses in the Treaty of Rome; following the court's decision Max Mosley appealed the judgement and cancelled the series until further notice.
57.
Between 1997 and 2000, Max Mosley repeatedly warned that if any EU decision went against the FIA, the marketing organisations and F1 itself would be moved out of Europe.
58.
Max Mosley came up with an innovative way to dispose of the FIA's involvement in the commercial activities of Formula One.
59.
Max Mosley came up with the solution in order for the FIA to retain its sporting management role and Ecclestone to retain his commercial role.
60.
Max Mosley argued that the proposed legislation was illegal by EU rules, that Formula One needed more time to find alternative sources of funding and that the prompt introduction of a ban would lead to races being held outside Europe, while the coverage, including tobacco logos, would still be broadcast into the EU.
61.
The FIA became involved in the programme in 1996, taking a lead in promoting it, and Max Mosley chaired the body from its launch as Euro NCAP in 1997 to 2004.
62.
In February 2001, Max Mosley announced his intention to stand again for the presidency in October of that year, saying that if successful this third term would be his last.
63.
Max Mosley was elected to his third term as president of the FIA in 2001.
64.
The GPMA stipulated that the championship should not be regulated by the FIA, which Lovell believes was because the organisation believed Max Mosley was too close to Ecclestone.
65.
In 2004, Max Mosley said he felt Ferrari's then team principal Jean Todt should succeed him as president of the FIA when he stepped down.
66.
Max Mosley was elected unopposed to his fourth term as president of the FIA in 2005.
67.
In recognition of his contribution to road safety and motorsport, Max Mosley was made a Chevalier dans l'Ordre de la Legion d'honneur in 2006.
68.
Max Mosley announced a 10-year freeze on the development of engines, to allow manufacturers to spend more of their budgets on environmentally friendly technology such as the Kinetic Energy Recovery System introduced in 2009.
69.
Ron Dennis, team principal of McLaren, was unaware at this point that Max Mosley had been sent personal e-mails from Fernando Alonso, stating that the data had been used and seen by others in the team.
70.
Television commentator and newspaper columnist Martin Brundle, a former driver, was among those who criticised the FIA and Max Mosley for inconsistency and questioned the "energetic manner" in which he felt McLaren was being pursued, suggesting that there was a "witch hunt" against the team.
71.
At the start of 2008, Max Mosley said that he wanted to see through reforms such as budget capping and new technologies like KERS introduced into Formula One before retiring.
72.
Max Mosley admitted "the embarrassment the revelations caused", but said that there was no Nazi theme involved.
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Max Mosley was strongly criticised by former drivers, motor manufacturers, and several of the national motoring bodies who form the FIA.
74.
Max Mosley said that he received much supportive correspondence, and said that he would continue to the end of his current term, which he said would be his last.
75.
Max Mosley won a vote of confidence at an Extraordinary General Meeting of the FIA on 3 June 2008, with 103 votes in support and 55 against, with seven abstentions and four invalid votes.
76.
In July 2008, Max Mosley won a High Court legal case against the News of the World for invasion of privacy.
77.
In December 2008, Max Mosley said that he still intended to stand down when his term ran out in October 2009, but would take the final decision in June of that year.
78.
However, the following day FOTA and the FIA reached an agreement with Max Mosley agreeing not to stand for re-election as part of the deal: 'now there is peace'.
79.
Max Mosley later said that he was "under pressure from all over the world" to stand for re-election.
80.
In July 2011, The Daily Telegraph reported that Max Mosley was financially guaranteeing the court costs of claimants who may have been subjected to phone hacking by the News of the World.
81.
Max Mosley launched legal action against Google, in an attempt to stop searches from returning web pages which use the photographs from the video used for the News of the World story.
82.
At the Leveson Inquiry, Max Mosley stated his reasons for pursuing Google:.
83.
Max Mosley has to recognise that it is a part of society and it must accept the responsibility which comes with that.
84.
In late February 2018, the Daily Mail reported that Max Mosley had published a leaflet in the early 1960s linking black immigration to the spread of diseases, the implication being that Max Mosley had committed perjury in the High Court when giving evidence in his libel case against the News of the World.
85.
Max Mosley died on 23 May 2021 after suffering from cancer, with the news being confirmed by Bernie Ecclestone.
86.
On 29 March 2022, an inquest into his death confirmed that Max Mosley was found with a fatal gunshot wound to his head.
87.
Max Mosley had been told that he had just "weeks" to live and told his personal assistant of 20 years that he was going to take his own life the day before he did so.