Spank-gate's end.

It was so civilized of Max Mosley to have a naked spot of tea with the help afterwards, so British.

Of course the now red cheeked FIA president had to stand up with his cup and therein lies the problem. While what he may do on his own time is his business and he was a victim of a despicable invasion of privacy, the fact remains that the reason why he always insisted on the extra padded chair at FIA meeting is now all too clear.

Being FIA president always struck me as a glamorous but thankless job, someone is always going to hate you. It became fashionable to knock Mr. Mosley but I always found that in interviews he always had the very sharp and interesting insights you would expect from someone with his experience (...oh, be quiet!).

The fact remains that the next time a team gets caught with, say, a Ferrari owner's manual, you know the headlines will be "Team McX gets spanked by FIA" and that will not fly.

That the end is near is made obvious by the the latest developments of the German Motorsport governing body asking Mosley to step down but more pointedly by comments from drivers like Hamilton and Rosberg scoring some early brownie points by condemning Mosley.

"I totally agree with what they're saying," said McLaren driver Hamilton. "As young people we are always looking up to others to show us the way and set a good example, which is key."

Considering the FIA Mclaren history, Hamilton should have kept his trap shut, but those two would not have made those comments if they were not certain Mosley was about to get....punished! (see what I mean?).

I'm guessing Mosley's hobbies were well known to insiders, the issue of who dropped the dime on him with the help of the Rupert Murdoch owned News of the World is going to be interesting to follow if not rather obvious...