The top-10 most influential people in Formula One

Ed Gorman

You have probably all noticed that there is something of a gap in the Formula One schedule and, after Max Mosley's latest manoeuvrings, a lot of people have taken a breather. By the way, on the subject of Mosley, be ready for a spin-line in the next few weeks which will concentrate on the apparent attack on the authority of that minor motoring organisation, the FIA.

When Mosley is in trouble, he always resorts to this: "The FIA is under attack, I must defend it. There is no-one who can do this as well as me. The members - (who are all wearing full gas-masks and hardhats and are sleeping in their garden sheds) - are imploring me to stay. I could not possibly let them down." On and on it goes...

Of course we should never be taken in by this sort of nonsense peddled by Mosley and his spin-doctor (Anthony) Richard Woods. Mosley is only interested in Mosley. Ambitious, addicted to power and hopelessly vain, he cannot see that his useful time, his constructive time, as the head of the FIA is over. And so he must stay and there is still no-one in the FIA who is man enough, strong enough, even brave enough to take him on and get rid of him.

The point of the Mosley/Woods tactic is to make Mosley look strong. "Here is the great defender, fighting for our rights while evil-doers all around us - the dreaded car manufacturers - try to bring us down." What this ploy attempts to obscure, however, is the inconvenient truth that Mosley completely misjudged his attempt to force a budget cap (voluntarily) down the throat of Formula One, that he precipitated the biggest crisis in the sport's history, that that crisis has done enormous commercial harm to Formula One and that, in the end, he has agreed to so many derogations and exceptions to his scheme, that the whole thing has been watered down to the point of being almost meaningless.

I should also add that Mosley's people were very keen to agree with the view, a few weeks ago, that this was Max's "big play" - this was going to be his big career achievement, reforming Formula One's addiction to spending. He would stand or fall on this one. Well, he has certainly not won the day, so we have to assume that, by the estimates of his own staff, his credibility is now seriously in question. Normally in public life when people get it this wrong they have to consider their future.

I forgot one other point: the shenanigans of last week when Mosley threw his toys out of his pram because he didn't like his press coverage made Formula One a laughing stock. That's all very well, you might think, if it was the work of a mere driver or team principal but, no, this was the head of the sport's governing body making everyone, including himself, look silly....

Which brings me to the point of this post...

The other day, quite a few days ago in fact, on the evening of the Turkish Grand Prix, myself and two colleagues from Fleet Street (who will remain anonymous) played a little game where we listed, in order of importance and without consulting each other first, the top-10 most influential people in Formula One. Of course this was well before the breakaway was announced and the dramas of Paris and it is also very much a British journalist's view, but the lists (saved from dinner at a restaurant round the corner from our Istanbul hotel) still make quite interesting reading.

Have a look through them and tell us what you think. Are we miles out? Have we consistently missed some key people? Is the wrong person at or near the top each time? Have I, for example, under-estimated the importance of Luca di Montezemolo? Why is Lewis in the list(I would argue that he gets worldwide publicity for anything he says that's remotely controversial) and is Max really not as important as Bernard Charles? What about Woods, why is he on all three lists? Looking through it, I see I have still got Ron in there...interesting....
 
Let's have your views...

The top-10 most important/influential people in Formula One

My list
1. Bernie Ecclestone
2. Donald Mackenzie
3. Max Mosley
4. Richard Woods
5. Tony Purnell
6. Lewis Hamilton
7. Luca di Montezemolo
8. Ron Dennis    
9. Fernando Alonso
10. John Howett

Colleague One
1. Bernie Ecclestone
2. Max Mosley
3. Donald Mackenzie
4. Alan Donnelly
5. Richard Woods
6. Luca di Montezemolo
7. Flavio Briatore
8. Dr Dieter Zetsche
9. Lewis Hamilton
10. Head of BBC Sport

Colleague Two
1. Bernie Ecclestone
2. Max Mosley
3. Donald Mackenzie
4. Luca di Montezemolo
5. Richard Woods
6. Alan Donnelly
7. Anthony Hamilton
8. Lewis Hamilton
9. Flavio Briatore
10. Jenson Button

Errr...that's it....