KEY POINTS:
Motor racing chief Max Mosley denies he is deliberately steering clear of Formula One after a sex scandal and will attend next month's Monaco Grand Prix.
"I will be going to the Monaco Grand Prix. I live there," the International Automobile Federation (FIA) president said while attending the
first day of the Rally of Jordan.
"I only went to one complete Formula One race last year. That was Monaco, and I was at the complete event because I live there," added the 68-year-old Briton who has faced calls for his resignation.
Mosley has not attended a grand prix since British Sunday tabloid News of the World splashed details of a sado-masochistic, Nazi-style orgy with prostitutes on March 30. He stayed away from Bahrain on April 6, when that country's rulers made clear his presence would not be welcome.
This week he has been in Jordan for that country's debut in the world rally championship. That event clashes with tonight's Spanish Grand Prix, the first European round of the Formula One season where the FIA launched an anti-racism campaign.
While critics suggested Mosley's absence was to avoid any potential embarrassment to the King of Spain, Mosley said he had never had any plan to attend.
Mosley also hit back at reports he had been snubbed in Jordan, despite his invitation by the Crown Prince Feisal Al Hussein. "I was invited to Jordan by the Prince and I accepted. For national newspapers to be writing that I had been snubbed by the King of Jordan is completely dishonest. I was never supposed to meet him. It was never in the programme - so how can that be a snub?" he said.
"I was invited by the Prince and I have spent time with him on several occasions, including having dinner with him. He has been very friendly and welcoming towards me."
While former champions, several major car manufacturers and some FIA members have called for him to resign, Mosley has made clear his determination to stay in office. He faces a vote of confidence by secret ballot at an FIA general assembly in Paris on June 3, nine days after the Monaco Grand Prix - the traditional social highlight of the Formula One season. The next race after Spain is Turkey on May 11.
Meanwhile, Ferrari's world champion driver Kimi Raikkonen made a strong start to Formula One's European season by dominating Spanish Grand Prix free practice. The Finn, championship leader after the opening three long-haul races, set a best time of 1m 20.649s in the morning and then topped the afternoon timesheets in 1m 21.935s.
His Brazilian team-mate, Felipe Massa, who scored his first points of the season when he won the previous race in Bahrain, was second fastest on a sunny morning but only fifth in the later session. Instead, former champions Renault hinted at a possible improvement with Brazilian rookie Nelson Piquet second ahead of Spanish team-mate Fernando Alonso.
Piquet's time was only 0.084s off Raikkonen's.
"We did the work we needed to do and had no problems," said Raikkonen. "As usual, it is hard to judge where we are up against our rivals and I think we can expect a very close fight."
The leading trio in the morning had all lapped inside Massa's 2007 pole time of 1:21.421, with McLaren's Lewis Hamilton third fastest in 1:21.192. The Briton was 11th in the afternoon, when the usual frontrunners concentrated more on longer runs with heavier fuel loads.
"We struggled with the balance of the car throughout both sessions today," said Hamilton. "There was too much oversteer and we tried a lot of different things to improve but didn't make the progress we wanted." His Finnish team-mate Heikki Kovalainen had a more frustrating day, with the team changing his car's gearbox between the sessions. He then stopped on track in the afternoon with a throttle control problem.
Raikkonen, a winner at the Circuit de Catalunya in 2005, leads BMW Sauber's Nick Heidfeld in the standings by three points.
Renault, struggling to match the leaders' pace in the opening races, have introduced a significant upgrade including a prominent fin to the engine cover.
