Max Mosley, yesterday, found a friend. And it was just one friend, but powerful: the representative of the FIA for the United Arab Emirates. It may be the greatest problem the president of FIA has had, to date.

The UAE endorsement makes it impossible to ignore the element that Mosley most needs to be ignored: Anti-Semitism.

Mosley - the FIA president, the sanctioning body for F1 and other international motorsport forms. He is in the middle of a lurid sex scandal, described as some Nazi-style orgy that involves five prostitutes, in London. Mosley didn’t denied – perhaps because that would be impractical (a British tabloid posted some video of his activity on the website), and has argued instead that the newspaper really invaded his privacy. Despite calls from manufacturers and F1 entrants, Max Mosley refused to resign, stating instead that he will now ask the FIA’s governing to decide of retaining him at their meeting in Paris on June 3rd.

Mosley’s strategy got a boost when Mohammed ben Sulayem, the president of the Automobile and Touring Club of the United Arab Emirates has lined up behind him, saying essentially all of the talking points Mosley. He said: “I think it has been used for the wrong reasons. [Referring to Great Britain, t]his is something that is allowed there. I am a full supporter. If someone wants to use this for the wrong reasons, it is not acceptable. He did not commit anything that weakens the FIA. We as members of the FIA elected him”.