LONDON − Max Mosley, the former president of motorsport’s world governing body, the FIA, shot himself after having received news he had weeks to live, a coroner’s inquest was told yesterday.
The former racing driver died last May, aged 81, and had been suffering from cancer.
The inquest into his death at Westminster Coroner’s Court was told yesterday that he took his own life at his London home after being told he had a “very limited life expectancy” and was in “debilitating” pain.
Mosley told his personal assistant of his intent the night before he was found and had one last meal with his wife before writing a suicide note, court heard.
Senior coroner Fiona Wilcox said she was “satisfied” Mosley intended to kill himself.
“I am also entirely satisfied Mr. Mosley would not have undertaken this action but for the distressing and debilitating terminal lymphoma,” she said.
Mosley became FIA president in 1993 after serving in previous administrative roles in the sport, including within Formula One. He served three terms as president before standing down in 2009.
Ex-Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone told AFP at the time of his death that he and Mosley were “like brothers”.
“He was interesting and a character. He had a Corinthian spirit. He was the sort of guy who was hard to get to know.”
Mosley was the son of 1930s British fascist leader Oswald Mosley and Diana, one of the famed Mitford sisters.
One of the sisters, Unity, was said to be close to Adolf Hitler. She survived a suicide attempt when World War II broke out.
In 2008, Mosley won a privacy case against the now-defunct News of the World newspaper after it printed photographs and published video of his involvement in a sadomasochistic sex session.
It was reported by the newspaper as a “sick Nazi orgy” but the judge found no evidence of Nazi themes in his judgment.
Mosley experienced a family tragedy in 2009 when his son Alexander died aged 39. The coroner ruled Alexander’s death was due to non-dependent drug abuse.
His love of motor racing began in his youth and he was involved in Formula 2 for Brabham and Lotus before retiring in 1969.
His first race at the Nurburgring in Germany in 1968 is best known for the tragic death of legend Jim Clark.
He oversaw the safety reforms in the sport that followed the death of Ayrton Senna at the San Marino Grand Prix in 1994. – AFP, March 30, 2022
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