Williams CEO Adam Parr has sung the praises of Max Mosley, declaring that the FIA president is “always one step ahead”.
Mosley has endured some well-documented troubles during recent years, and many have called for the 69-year-old to stand down from his post.
The Englishman is due to make a decision this summer on whether to finally call it quits, but remains at the helm for now, and has been fundamental as Formula 1 set out on a crucial cost-cutting path.
“I think the FIA is, as it always was, a very challenging organisation,” Parr told GPWeek.
“I think Max has a great vision – just look at KERS [Kinetic Energy Recovery System] and costs, because he started a lot of this – and the thing about Max is he’s always one step ahead.
“He never compromises, so working with him is a challenge. It’s one of the tremendous features of Formula 1.”
The Formula One Teams’ Association was formed in July of last year and has helped the squads to form collective proposals to approach the FIA with. It has also played a huge part in helping to reduce costs in the light of the global economic downturn, which has affected F1 greatly.
“FOTA is, so far, in its nine months of existence, very cohesive and very clear,” Parr insists. “It has made some serious achievements.
“The teams, collectively, have never achieved a fraction of what FOTA has done in nine months. There is the unity but there have been some very big decisions which have meant compromises by people who are not used to compromising.
“We have taken a decent chunk of cost out in an intelligent way so far. I think it will be a big challenge in front of us to keep that going. It’s going to get harder and harder.”
Williams have had one of the quickest cars in F1 so far in 2009, following the extensive regulation changes brought in over the winter, which have forced teams to start afresh.
The former Honda team, Brawn GP, Red Bull and Toyota have also been fast but Parr does not expect the likes of Ferrari, McLaren and BMW Sauber to keep struggling for long.
Asked if he felt there was a genuinely new pecking order in F1, he replied: “I doubt it. The great thing about Formula 1 is that it’s so unpredictable.
“But, for me, seeing Toyota doing as well as they are is fantastic. We’ve got a lot of respect for them, they’re our engine partner, they’re very good people and it’s just very satisfying to see them feeling happy about where they are.
“With Brawn, one shouldn’t forget that Ross [Brawn] had a lot of resources over the last two years but, more importantly, they’ve done a very good job with it and I think it’s a wonderful story for Formula 1. It’s refreshing.”