http://www.crash.net/news_view.asp?cid=1&id=154922 FIA boss Max Mosley has called former triple world champion Jackie Stewart a 'certified halfwit' during a tirade in response to the Scot's criticisms of the £50m fine handed down to McLaren in the wake of the F1 Spying Scandal, The Mail on Sunday website is reporting. Stewart was one of the most prominent protesting voices over the way the WMSC handled the spying allegations and, following their decision to fine McLaren, declared the sanction 'unjustifiable'. Mosley responded at a 'media lunch' on Monday: “There's one particular ex-driver who because he never stops talking, never has the chance to listen — so he doesn't know what's going on. “He said the FIA's decision would not have worked in a civil court. He has no qualification to say that. “Then he starts saying this is personal between me and Ron Dennis, at great length, because everything he does is at extreme length. “It's annoying that some of the sponsors listen to him because he's won a few championships. But nobody else in Formula One does — not the teams, not the drivers. He's a figure of fun among drivers." Presumably referring to the tartan trousers and matching hat Stewart wears to GPs, the President of the FIA added, “He goes round dressed up as a 1930s music hall man. He's a certified halfwit.” Mosley, who has never made any secret of his desire to see Hamilton and Alonso thrown out of the driver's championship, again claimed that the decision to exclude the team from the Constructors Championship wasn't personal and that he doesn't 'hate' Ron Dennis. Commenting further on what he thinks of the McLaren boss, Mosley went on to say, "I think what Ron has done is amazing. A lot of people are mechanics but he's the one with probably the best organised F1 team. It's something to be immensely proud of." Mosley was quick to rebuff the theory that the disagreements between them stem from social, rather than academic issues saying, "Apparently he gets super p*ssed off, with the picture of him as an engineer on Jack Brabham's car. He's much grander than I am. He's a Commander of the British Empire. I'm not even a Member. The sport need characters like him rather than some faceless manager." Allegations that he is attitude to Scuderia Ferrari is not sufficiently impartial were also, unsurprisingly, rubbished: "If Ferrari's chief designer had 780 pages of McLaren secrets and I didn't act then there might be a point to the argument." Max seems pissed that someone would call him out on his ridiculous sanction. Not that Sir Jackie always feels the need to make sense, but I'd say it's not fair to call him a half wit, lol
Jackie likes to get into the spirit of F1. He makes alot of comments just to make life interesting. He was a great driver in his day and I would love to be a fly on the wall when he gets together with Niki Lauda over a few drinks.
I think Mosley is sometimes on the right track but he gets heavyhanded with his actions at other times. Jackie Stewart should really talk less. I respect him as a driver but his comments during the season are usually laughable.
Jackie Stewart is a very smart man. How often do you see his name bandied about? At LEAST every month or two. He is always giving his opinion of this or that, you see him on tons of TV shows and in magazines. He stays "out there". And that makes him marketable. That makes him money. Compare that to Jacky Ickx, a two time WDC winner right around the same time period as Jackie Stewart. How often do you hear about Jacky Ickx? Yeah, never! Because he is out of the limelight. So when a team is looking for maybe an ambassadorial type, Jackie Stewart has a lot more chance to get that than someone you never hear of. Jackie also can command more $$ for articles, public speaking, driving lessons, or whatever else as long as he is in the limelight. IMO I don't think he should shut up at all. I find a lot of his commentary to be silly, but hey whatever, so is a lot of Peter Windsors commentary along with a lot of other F1 journos. Max on the other hand, Max is supposed to be the representative of a governance body. He should ABSOLUTELY NOT ever make any personal statements about anyone. He should come across as completely unbiased, completely impartial and completely professional. The fact that he would make a statement like that about Stewart (and has made similar ones about other big shots in F1) just shows he is unprofessional and has no class whatsoever. He is a glorified ambulance chaser who hit the lucky sperm lottery, nothing more. The sooner he dies in a bureacuratic paperwork fire, the better.
J Ickx won 8 Formula 1 races during his career. He never won the WDC. His great success came at LeMans where he won 6 times. He has chosen to keep a low profile.
Mad Max has GOT to shut the f*** up. First time I've heard someone moan and b*tch so much, AFTER getting their bloody way!
Ok, my mistake - 6x LM winner, 8xGP winner. It doesn't change my point though - which is that Stewart keeping his name out there makes him money. I bet Jackie doesn't even think he's some authority on matters, but as long as journos keep calling him for a soundbyte, I bet he's happy to oblige.
