Formula 1

F1 News: Former FIA President Max Mosley Commits Suicide After Cancer Diagnosis

Former FIA president Max Mosley has been found with a fatal gunshot wound after being diagnosed with terminal cancer.

Ages 81, Mosley died at his home in Chelsea, London, after being told he only had “weeks” to live, on top of his chronic bladder and bowel pain being incurable. His PA, Henry Alexander, said the following:

“He was sat in an armchair in a despairing way. He spoke to me and said I’d been amazing and thanking me.

“He said he’d had enough, had intentions of killing himself. I begged him to reconsider and said, ‘please, there must be another way’.

“He said he’d made up his mind. When I pleaded with him, asked him if he could give it 24 hours, he said ‘why?’”

The police were called by his neighbour and housekeeper upon finding a note on his bedroom door that simply said, “do not enter, call the police”. There was a suicide note by his bed which read, “I had no choice,” but the rest was unreadable due to the amount of blood in the area.

Senior Coroner Dr Fiona Wilcox said:

“On May 24, 2021, police were called to the address of Mr Mosley, attended, and found him lying on his bed with a gun in the vicinity.

“He suffered significant injuries consistent with gunshot wound.”

A written testament from Alex said:

“I sent him a text at around quarter to asking if he would want his breakfast upstairs. I rang him and it went to voicemail.”

Max Mosley was diagnosed with high-grade lymphoma and was recommended to have a course of chemotherapy for prostate cancer. He underwent a number of treatments, and Dr McNamara admitted that some went against his own medical advice.

“Mr Mosley arrived at a point at the beginning of April when there was a shift away from treating aggressively and more towards controlling the disease and quality of life. I referred Mr Mosley to palliative care colleagues,” he said.

“Max had a terminal illness and accepted this would not be cured.”

A biproduct of this was a fistula, which is a passage that connected two organs. This left him with severe symptoms that lowered his quality of life.

“Mr Mosley had expressed ideas of committing suicide to myself and other colleagues and had been referred to appropriate colleagues. He never expressed a plan of doing this and always said the problem was that his wife would not accept this,” Dr McNamara said.

“He also indicated his affairs had been in order.”

Emma Mosley, Max’s daughter-in-law, paid tribute to him through a statement to the press:

“Mr Mosley died after a long battle with cancer.

“He was a barrister and amateur racing car driver.

“Mr Mosley identified his major achievement as FIA president, the promotion of road safety by the European New Car Assessment programme and the increased safety and the use of green technologies in Formula 1.”

Alex Harrington

Alex started racing at a young age so certainly knows his way around a car and a track. He can just about put a sentence together too, which helps. He has a great interest in the latest models, but would throw all of his money at a rusty old French classic and a 300ZX. Contact: [email protected]

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