The Weekly Grapevine

Your weekly dose of rumours, speculations and analysis

It was, even by Formula 1 standards, an astonishing week. Forget the proverbial slap across McLaren's knuckles for admitting to deceiving the Melbourne stewards, the very reason the extraordinary sitting of the FIA's World Motor Sport Council meeting had been called in the first place, and home in, instead, on the (leaked) correspondence between arguably the two most powerful men in the sport: Ferrari's Luca di Montezemolo and FIA president Max Mosley.

They are formidable men with a long history in motorsport. In the 60s, while Mosley was thrashing around circuits in Britain and Europe in F2 machinery, the Italian was rallying Lancias for the semi-works HF Squadra Corse outfit. The similarities do not stop there, either. They are estimated to have similar personal wealths ($400m) and studied law before shunning the bars in their respective countries – both rejected political careers for whatever reasons and are highly respected for towering minds which have served them exceedingly well in their respective careers.

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