British Formula One drivers from across the generations have called on FIA president Max Mosley to do the right thing by the sport and resign immediately. Damon Hill, world champion in 1996 and current president of the British Racing Drivers’ Club; former Ferrari driver and five-times Le Mans 24-hour winner Derek Bell; and Tony Brooks, who finished second in the F1 world championship in 1959, added their voices to those demanding that Mosley should step down after it was revealed he took part in a spanking and sex session with five prostitutes. Striped concentration camp-like overalls were worn, and Mosley admits speaking German to the women, but he has denied there were any Nazi connotations.

“He has to think of racing instead of himself, and stop being so damned selfish,” said Bell. “This affair is doing serious damage. We’ve had enough crises in F1 over the past few years, we don’t need any more. I understand him maintaining what went on was his own business and that it shouldn’t have been publicised, but now that it has, a man in his position simply has to bow out gracefully, though that’s hardly the right word. You just say, ‘I apologise, I’ve had a wonderful run and that’s it, goodbye’.”

Hill, speaking for the first time on the subject, said that while F1 has always had something of a risqué image, Mosley’s actions had gone beyond the pale. “None of us wants to be moralising about individuals, but there has to be an element here to do with the image of the sport, and the ability of the premier representative of the sport in the world to continue to engage with a politic concerned about values,” said Hill. “It’s a practical issue, but it’s also a marketing issue. Businesses connected with the sport want a positive image, and politicians want to engage with it because they know motorsport people support those values.”

Brooks, one of the senior statesmen of the sport in the UK and one of the greatest drivers Britain has produced, said it was not Mosley’s morals that were the problem. “He has obviously lost status, because while he denies any Nazi connotations, cavorting around with prostitutes in that manner is not something to be proud of,” said Brooks. “No doubt other people do it and don’t get found out, but he has been, and in his position he needs to have status and image. I don’t condemn his private practices - if he thinks what he was doing is all right, that’s between him and his maker. Sexual perversion is something you don’t judge these days, but his is a terribly important position, a prestigious position. To me he’s dragging the sport into disrepute, and that can’t be right.”

Mosley insists he can continue doing his job at the head of motorsport’s governing body and is taking legal action against the News of the World for invading his privacy. The FIA has announced that an extraordinary general meeting, requiring the presence of 222 automobile club representatives from 134 countries, will be held at the organisation’s headquarters in Paris on June 3. It will include a vote of confidence by secret ballot.

Another former world champion, Jody Scheckter, who was one of the first to call for Mosley to stand down, accused the motorsport press of “running scared”. “I was one of relatively few prepared to speak out because of the way F1 is run, which is very sad,” said Scheckter, who runs a 2,500-acre organic farm in Hampshire. “The fact is that people can’t say what they like, there isn’t freedom of the press within F1. I was just happy the British national newspapers came out and covered the story properly. The way it works in F1 is that if people say something the authorities don’t like, their paddock pass doesn’t work for a day, or they can’t get a car pass or something. It’s ridiculous, but when something is as big as this, you have to speak out. I was in Bahrain last week, and you’d be amazed at the number of people who came up to me and said, ‘Well done, we felt the same’. So why wouldn’t they speak up?”

Scheckter confirmed that Mosley’s pariah status was unlikely to be confined to Bahrain, whose crown prince wrote to Mosley, politely suggesting it would be better if he stayed away from last weekend’s grand prix. “I was invited by the prince, and he said he simply couldn’t be seen in that situation,” said Scheckter. “He won’t be the only one, so it’s impossible in these circumstances to understand how Mosley believes he is the best man to represent the sport.”

Writing in these pages last week, Martin Brundle made a similar point. Four manufacturers in the pit lane – BMW, Mercedes, Toyota and Honda – and motoring organisations in the United States, Germany, the Netherlands, Israel, Austria and New Zealand have made it clear that they do not believe he can or should continue. In a letter to members, Mosley claimed the support of the presidents of “more than 20” automobile clubs. At the time of writing, the only clubs to make that support public are those of Brazil and the United Arab Emirates. The Motor Sports Association, which is responsible for the administration of all levels of the sport in the UK from karting upwards, refuses to comment.