Mosley now scraps with his oldest friend in motorsport, Ecclestone

Mosley, the disgraced president of the FIA, will be at the Monaco Grand Prix this week — he is a resident of the tax haven — but he will delegate his duties to his deputy, Marco Piccinini, to avoid any public association with Prince Albert, who presides over the post-race presentations.

Prince Albert will also host a gala dinner next Sunday evening, which Mosley has been to in the past but on this occasion he is likely to be omitted from the guest list.

With billionaires on yachts anchored in the harbour, and other monied guests housed in £2,000-a-night hotel rooms, Mosley's presence will cast a harsh spotlight on Formula One's unedifying power struggle.

Mosley, in a leaked letter, has offered to relinquish his office as FIA president in October next year to allow him to prevent Ecclestone, as Formula One's commercial rights holder, wresting control from the sport's governing body.

At least that is the scenario Mosley is painting as he tries to cling to office. Mosley, publicly ridiculed after being photographed by a tabloid newspaper as he participated in a sadomasochistic orgy with five prostitutes, will have his fate determined at an extraordinary general meeting of the FIA on June 3.

Mosley, whose father Sir Oswald founded the British Union of Fascists, denies there was a Nazi theme to the orgy, as alleged by the newspaper. But ahead of the meeting in Paris, Mosley has made the battle personal.

He revealed the FIA is in the middle of renegotiations over the 100-year agreement with commercial rights holder (CRH), represented by Ecclestone, and effectively giving away governance of Formula One.

In 2001, the FIA, with Mosley's full support, sold Ecclestone's family holding company SLEC a 100-year extension to their rights for $309million (£160m), a sum most commentators felt was laughably low.

Mosley wrote in his letter to the president of member clubs: "The CRH originally asked us to accept changes to the agreement in order to reduce the CRH's liability to tax. These we can probably concede. But the CRH has also now asked for control over the Formula One regulations and the right to sell the business to anyone — in effect to take over Formula One completely.

"During my period as FIA president (17 years) the economics of Formula One have changed beyond all recognition. We are now dealing with a sport involving billions of dollars and interest that would like nothing better than to remove the FIA from the championship entirely."

In essence, Mosley is squaring up for a showdown with Ecclestone. Mosley, 68, contends he is the only man capable of handling tough, complex negotiations.

Yet he is ignoring the reality that Formula One's major manufacturers, like Mercedes, BMW, Honda and Toyota, have publicly called for his resignation. The Bahrain Royal household ordered him not to attend the Bahrain Grand Prix last month — and Formula One sponsors are unhappy with Mosley's refusal to bow to increasing public pressure to quit. At the last race, seven Formula One teams voted to sign a letter demanding Mosley's departure.

Ecclestone also agreed to put his name to such a letter — but only if there was anonymous agreement within the paddock. Ferrari, Williams and Toro Rosso are believed to have declined to sign.

Ecclestone was a powerful friend to Mosley over almost four decades. Mosley is now about to comprehend he is an even more powerful enemy.