Apr.6 (GMM) The head of the Spanish motor racing federation has come out fighting against embattled FIA president Max Mosley's plan to launch an anti-racism campaign at the country's grand prix later this month.
Carlos Gracia, also a member of the World Council, insisted to members of the Spanish press on Saturday that "there will be no anti-racism campaign in Montmelo", referring to Mosley's declared plans in February for the race at Circuit de Catalunya this year.
The FIA's anti-racism campaign, entitled 'racing against racism', was a response to the Lewis Hamilton incident during winter testing, but its deployment must now be in doubt because of the Mosley sex scandal, which reportedly had Nazi connotations.
In a five-star Bahrain hotel, Gracia would not be drawn on the scandal, but he said his position against the anti-racism scandal had already been made clear to Mosley before his romp with five prostitutes was made public.
"Spain is not a racist country," he insists.Mosley received some support amid the sex scandal on Saturday in the form of the Brazilian motor body.
Two more F1 teams played their cards close to their chest in Bahrain; Force India's Vijay Mallya saying only that India is a "conservative country", while Red Bull's coy stance is encapsulated by its paddock magazine, the Red Bulletin, which hasn't uttered a word about the sex scandal this weekend.
The global press coverage of the story, however, remains a problem for Mosley. The Independent on Saturday took a step into the surreal when it published a 'brief history of orgies', while Spain's El Mundo referred to the impending 'decline of F1's Fuhrer'.
