Ecclestone considering new job at FIA

Bernie Ecclestone is considering quitting as Formula One's commercial supremo for a new job with the sport's governing body, FIA president Max Mosley said yesterday.

Mosley saw "every possibility" of the 74-year-old Briton accepting an offer that would involve him steering the sport from the other side of the fence.

"It would be a very major step for him but I think, yes, he might do it," said Mosley.

"The thought did occur to me that if Bernie could be persuaded to give up all his commercial interests... why shouldn't he do the FIA (International Automobile Federation) side," he said at the Monaco Grand Prix.

"He could deal with the teams, the manufacturers, the banks and all the different things that one has to do. So I suggested this to him and he hasn't actually said no."

If Ecclestone were to accept, he would have to turn his back on the SLEC holding company that is controlled 75 per cent by Bayerische Landesbank, JP Morgan and Lehman Brothers.

The banks have won several legal battles with Ecclestone in recent months for control of the sport.

"I am trying to decide whether this is what I should do or not but I would have to say I am seriously considering the proposition Max has put to me at the moment," Ecclestone told the Guardian newspaper.

"Is he pressing me for a decision? Well, sort of. I suppose the job is quite appealing in a sense, dealing with every element of Formula One, although I would have to remove myself from the commercial aspect of the sport."

Mosley said he hoped for a definitive answer in the next couple of months.

He said it would not be a major concern for the FIA if Ecclestone was no longer the man running the commercial side of the sport.

"He knows the business better than anyone and one of the things in our arrangements with his companies, and therefore with the banks and so on, is that we have to approve his successor," said the FIA president.

Strategic move

Mosley denied that the move was a strategic one designed to strengthen his position with manufacturers planning their own series from the end of 2007.

"It's not done for that purpose," he said. "It's really done to unload some of the burden of dealing with all of this. But it would certainly have that effect.

"But I must say I am quite optimistic about the manufacturers. I think those problems will just get sorted out. That's a question of talking which they now seem wishing to do."