Time-wasting drives Mosley to quit
 |  Mosley would rather be on the beach reading a book than in F1 meetings |
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MAGNY-COURS, France -- Max Mosley, the president of motorsport's governing body the FIA, said Friday that the time-wasting of F1 teams was a factor in his decision to step down.
Mosley, who leaves in October, has been trying to work with the 10 Grand Prix team chiefs to reduce costs and improve the spectacle and safety of the sport.
"I've got to the point now where I no longer find it interesting or satisfying to sit in long meetings, particularly with F1 teams and the World Rally Championship teams," said Mosley.
"People often agree things and then they go away after the meeting and change their minds completely and that means you've wasted a day. Sometimes one asks oneself 'Isn't it more fun to sit on the beach with an interesting book?'.
"Above all you shouldn't stay in a job that is as important as the FIA if it doesn't really fascinate you. I have achieved in the job everything I have set out to achieve and I'm grateful to the people who have helped me do that."
Mosley announced a raft of cost-cutting suggestions in May, including engine design changes, a single tire manufacturer and customer chassis, but the teams failed to agree to the proposals before the deadline to introduce them in 2006.
At the FIA world motorsport council meeting on Wednesday he outlined demands for the sport to improve safety after claming recent crashes have "tested the absolute limits" of the sport's safety levels.
He has long been a crusader for safety improvements and he added: "I've got one final thing I have to do and that is push through the changes to Formula One which I explained (on Wednesday). That will be set in motion next Tuesday."
Mosley, the son of former British politician Sir Oswold Mosley, became the FIA president in 1993 and has been re-elected twice but will step down before the next planned election in October 2005.
He is a qualified lawyer and former racer who helped establish March engineering in 1969 and became the legal advisor for the Formula One Constructors' Association in 1977.
He became president of the manufacturers commission at the FIA in 1986, became president of the FISA in 1991 and, when that body merged with the FIA in October 1993, became the FIA president and has since been re-elected twice.
The new FIA president will be elected in October but it is not yet certain whether the position will be an interim one for one year or whether the full new term will begin this year rather than next.
"I feel my task is done. I feel a sense of satisfaction," Mosley said. "It's the moment and I seized it."
