Alonso title could devalue F1, says Mosley

LONDON (Reuters) - Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso will devalue the Formula One championship if he wins it by less than seven points, the governing body’s former president Max Mosley said Thursday.

Spaniard Alonso, who leads Red Bull’s Mark Webber by 11 points with two races remaining, won controversially in Germany in July after Ferrari ordered Brazilian team mate Felipe Massa to let him pass while leading.

Ferrari were subsequently fined $100,000 for the use of banned ‘team orders’ but suffered no loss of points.

“I did feel at the very least that the extra points that Alonso got by overtaking Massa under team orders should have been taken away,” Mosley told BBC radio.

“That’s the absolute minimum, because if by any chance Alonso were to win the championship with a margin less than the seven points that he picked up, I would say illegitimately in Hockenheim, it would devalue the championship.

“But that’s just a personal view.”

The Briton also poured cold water on speculation that he was considering a comeback.

“I think my Formula One days are finished and I’ve moved on to other things now,” he said. “Obviously I’m watching it with interest but one should never go back.”

“COMPLETELY A RUMOUR”

Mosley, who survived calls for his resignation over a sado-masochistic sex scandal, handed over the presidency of the International Automobile Federation (FIA) to former Ferrari boss Jean Todt last October.

There has been some internet speculation that the relationship with Frenchman Todt has become frayed to the point where Mosley might seek to return.

Formula One’s commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone, who marked his 80th birthday Thursday, had suggested at last weekend’s South Korean Grand Prix that Mosley could share responsibilities with Todt at the FIA.

“I didn’t want Max to go and it would be nice to have him back,” said Ecclestone, who recalled how the sport used to be divided between the FIA and FISA, with the latter in charge of the sporting side.

“It’s completely a rumour,” Mosley said of the talk, adding that he did not miss the sport. “I follow it (Formula One) vaguely at a distance. I’m really now just an ordinary fan.”

“The fact is that Jean has taken over and I pushed very strongly for Jean...and I think Jean will get the job done and I want him to succeed because I am responsible really for him being there,” said Mosley.

“The last thing really I would want to do is interfere with what he is doing now.

“He must be given a chance to get on and run it in his own particular way...it’s a nice idea, it’s very friendly of Bernie to say ‘come back’ but the truth of the matter is that it would not be the right thing for me to do.”

Red Bull slam Berger for ‘ridiculous’ and ‘absurd’ Webber slur

RED Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner – a man so often accused of not supporting his driver Mark Webber – has hit back at suggestions from former grand prix-winner Gerhard Berger that the Australian intentionally tried to take another driver out with him when he crashed in Sunday’s inaugural Korean Grand Prix.

Having entered the Korean weekend sitting 14 points clear of any of his adversaries atop the F1 2010 World Championship standings, Webber was looking in good shape in second place behind Red Bull team-mate Sebastian Vettel when he lost control of his RB6 on a slippery kerb on only the second racing lap, thereby becoming the first victim of the grand prix’s perilously treacherous conditions.

After swiping the wall, the 34-year-old’s Renault-powered RB6 then careered back across the track again, where it collided with the luckless Nico Rosberg, who even aimed his Mercedes Grand Prix over the wet grass in a vain bid to avoid contact.

The extraordinary contention of ex-Scuderia Toro Rosso co-owner Berger was that the move had been deliberate, in a mis-timed attempt to collect either the following Fernando Alonso or Lewis Hamilton, both of whom Webber is fighting for the title [see separate story – click here]. A taken aback Horner rather begs to differ...

 “As with every incident in F1, opinions will always be made without all the facts,” the Englishman told Telegraph Sport.