By Noah Joseph
Everyone's surprised as the FIA has announced it is canceling the Canadian Grand Prix. Those in the world of F1 racing have come to know the event as a staple of the F1 calendar. Racing fans in Montreal, this writer's home town that has hosted the race for the past three decades, are shocked to lose the event. And that includes the race organizers, who apparently learned of the news the same way the rest of us have.
Au revoir, Montréal: FIA cancels Canadian GP for 2009....
By JOHN F. BURNS
LONDON — A High Court judge ruled on Thursday that a British tabloid newspaper breached the privacy of Max Mosley, the overseer of grand prix motor racing, when it published a story in March claiming he had participated in a sadomasochistic “orgy” with a Nazi theme.
The judge, Sir David Eady, sitting without a jury, awarded Mr. Mosley damages equivalent to about $120,000 as well as legal costs in his suit against The News of the World. His legal fees have been estimated at more than $1.7-million. But the judge did not award the “punitive damages” sought by Mr. Mosley, which could have run into millions of dollars, saying that this was not appropriate in a privacy case.
The judge upheld the central argument made by Mr. Mosley and his lawyers in court and in the battle to save his job as president of the Paris-based Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile, or F.I.A. that there had been no Nazi theme to the five-hour sex session in a Chelsea flat that was secretly filmed by the newspaper, and no issue of public interest in its decision to splash the story on its front page and to run video footage of the session on its Web site.
Mosley Wins Suit Against Tabloid....
Following discussions with Formula One Management, the FIA has confirmed that the British Grand Prix will be retained on the Formula One World Championship calendar, moving from Silverstone to its new home of Donington Park from 2010.
FIA President Max Mosley said, “After many years of patient but fruitless negotiation with the BRDC, we are delighted that Bernie (Ecclestone) has nevertheless been able to ensure that the British Grand Prix will keep its place on the Formula One World Championship calendar.
“We understand that the development programme planned for Donington will achieve the very high standards we and FOM expect from a modern F1 circuit. Finally, British Formula One fans will get the Grand Prix venue they deserve.”
FOM President Bernie Ecclestone said, “Finally the uncertainty is over. A contract has been signed with Donington Park and the future of the British Grand prix is now secure.
British Grand Prix at Donington Park from 2010....
PARIS, June 3 (UPI) -- Max Mosley, the scandal-plagued president of the world auto sports governing body FIA, will keep the job after winning a vote of confidence in Paris Tuesday.
Mosley, 68, comfortably survived the vote by member automobile racing clubs, held at Federation Internationale de l'Automobile headquarters in Paris, with the vote going 103 in favor of keeping Mosely and 55 against, The Sun newspaper reported.
Mosely had blasted reports in the British tabloid News of the World linking him to Nazi-themed sex acts with prostitutes, decrying it as an invasion of his privacy and launching a libel suit seeking to clear his name.
FULL ARTICLE....
Reuters
LONDON -- Bernie Ecclestone called on Max Mosley to resign as president of the International Automobile Federation (FIA) for the first time on Saturday following Mosley's involvement in a sex scandal.
Ecclestone, 77, the commercial executive of Formula One, said in an interview with the Daily Telegraph he had been a friend of Mosley's for 40 years, but the time had come for him to quit.
It is the first time since the scandal broke in March that Ecclestone has publicly called for Mosley to quit.
"He should stand down out of responsibility for the institution he represents, including F1," he said.
STORY....
