Mosley Hints at Motor Sport Conspiracy to Bring Him Down

Max Mosley yesterday faced the press for the first time since he stood on the steps of the high court in July, following his legal victory over the News of the World, and suggested that he could have been the victim of a conspiracy within motor racing.

After winning a legal action for invasion of his privacy, Mosley engaged Lord Stevens' company to investigate who might have been responsible for passing information to the News of the World giving details of alleged sadomasochistic orgies involving the president of the FIA, motor sport's governing body.

"The fact that Stevens is quiet does not mean that Stevens is not working," said Mosley at Monza, where the Italian grand prix takes place tomorrow. "I do believe that it had more to do than with one lady. It's not from my private life. It's most likely something to do with motor racing." Mosley said he felt vindicated by the ruling in the high court, where he sued successfully for breach of privacy. "The thing that annoyed me was that there was some sort of Nazi role play," said Mosley of the original article. "That has been totally demolished in court.

"In that sense I am vindicated, although obviously I am irritated, to put it mildly, that my private life, and aspects of my private life, have been made public which shouldn't have been. That's particularly bad for my family."

He also announced that he could stand for re-election for another five-year term from 2009, and that he has the support of Bernie Ecclestone, the formula one commercial-rights holder, should he choose to throw his hat into the ring next October.

Mosley said there was no longer any tension between him and Ecclestone after what had been presented as a mid-season spat. Mosley had survived a vote of confidence in the wake of the scandal breaking. "It got bad in the sense that I started to get extremely annoyed," said Mosley. "After we'd had the vote of confidence - which he appeared not to accept. It was not good for a while; now we've met, we've talked and it's behind us."