The curious case of Max Mosley and George Carman

In the Autumn of 1994, the Benetton Formula 1 team had been summoned before the World Council of motorsport's governing body, the FIA, to answer charges that it had deliberately removed the filter from a re-fuelling rig to gain a competitive advantage. Fearing exclusion from the World Championship, Benetton hired George Carman QC to represent them in court.

Whilst Carman died from prostate cancer in 2000, he was able to confide to his son, Dominic, the details of a meeting he had with Max Mosley, the President of the FIA, on the night before the hearing. The day after this meeting, Carman chose to offer no defence, but also to request no punishment. No prosecution evidence was presented to the World Council, Mosley performed the summing-up, and no punishment was imposed upon Benetton.

Dominic Carman chose not to include this event in his father's biography, No Ordinary Man, but he was able to recount what happened to journalist, Christian Sylt, who wrote this article.