Formula One Chief Stays After Sex Orgy Scandal

Despite lurid allegations about his private life, Max Mosley, theoverseer of Grand Prix motor racing, survived a confidence vote onTuesday to keep his job as president of the sport’s internationalgoverning body.

The vote was the latest dramatic twist in a story that emerged three months ago with a front-page exposé in a British tabloid and a video on the Internet showing Mr. Mosley in a sadomasochistic orgy with five alleged prostitutes in a London sex “dungeon.”

Some officials of the sport also called for his resignation because of suggestions of Nazi undertones in the role-playing during the session in a basement in London’s fashionable Chelsea district. Mr. Mosley acknowledged participating in the session, but denied that the role-playing had a Nazi theme. He filed a lawsuit against the newspaper that broke the story, the News of the World, claiming “unlimited damages” for invasion of privacy.

Mr. Mosley is president of the Paris-based Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile, known as F.I.A., and has presided over the expansion of Formula One racing into one of the world’s richest sports. After Tuesday’s vote at the elegant Paris headquarters of the organization, Robert Darbelnet, head of the Automobile Association of America, told reporters that Mr. Mosley had won the confidence vote by 103 votes to 55.

Max Mosley's shrewd political skills, deft maneuvering and brazen personality helped him successfully preside over auto racing's governing body FIA for 14 years.

Ultimately, it was his defiant stubbornness that proved to be his strongest trait.

Mosley resisted calls for his resignation for two months in the wake of a lurid sex scandal, before winning a confidence vote Tuesday to remain president of the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile. At a specially convened assembly in Paris, 103 of the 169 member federations voted in favor of him seeing out his fourth term.

Max Mosley's call for unity is set to fall on deaf ears after he won a vital vote of confidence that will see him remain in his role as FIA president.

Mosley comfortably won the day, claiming 61% of the vote, with 103 of the 169 involved in the secret ballot deciding he should remain in office, but the decision did not sit well with the automobile associations who had previously called on Mosley to resign, which could lead to the FIA becoming fragmented.

Guido van Woerkom, president of the Royal Dutch touring club ANWB, expressed his dissatisfaction with the outcome, saying: "There is disappointment, especially that he didn't react to the people who were against him in this vote. Some sensitivity would have been a far better approach than the hardball he played."

Max Mosley overcame a sex scandal and won a vote of confidence Tuesday to remain FIA president in a decision that threatens to divide motor racing's governing body.

Soon after Mosley was given permission to remain as president through October 2009 — when his fourth term ends — the German motoring federation broke off its cooperation with the FIA and the Dutch body criticized smaller clubs for letting monetary issues influence their vote.