What a weekend this was, even by Formula One's exotic standards. We gathered in Barcelona for a grand prix, but until the lights went out and the race started yesterday, the most compelling action was not on the track but in the paddock.

Four weeks into the Max Mosley sex scandal - sparked by lurid allegations in the News of the World about the FIA president's appetite for sado-masochistic orgies with prostitutes - his old friend, Bernie Ecclestone, decided that enough was enough.

Most ordinary, right-thinking people would have resigned immediately faced with the type of exposure with which Mosley has had to contend, but Mosley is no ordinary person and has shown that despite the calls for him to stand down - and despite the damage he is inflicting on the sport and the governing body - he will not budge.

Ecclestone had been playing his cards close to his chest during a very difficult time for a man who did not want to be seen to be stabbing his friend and business associate of 30 years in the back. But even Ecclestone has realised that the harm being done by Mosley to the image of Formula One, and the effect that it is having on sponsors, meant that something had to be done.

Normally, when you are planning an assassination, a secret location is a good place for the conspirators to meet. But this moment in Formula One history took place in full view of the press in the Toyota motorhome in the paddock. (No surprise that the leaks came fast and furious).

During what, by all accounts, was a testy meeting on Saturday morning, Ecclestone told the collected Formula One team principals that he was prepared to ask Mosley to stand aside if they were prepared to give him their unanimous backing. At least two team leaders - those from Toro Rosso and Williams - declined to give Ecclestone their support and so no formal statement or letter to Mosley was forthcoming.

In many ways, the damage to Mosley's cause was done in any case. Up until then, it had been known that the FIA president had “lost” the Formula One paddock. Now we know the extent of the majority against him.

We also know that in one case, opposition to him is derived more from concern about his probable successor - Jean Todt, the former Ferrari team principal - than revulsion at Mosley's own conduct. Either way, the picture looks ever clearer. Mosley is clinging to power in the face of increasingly overwhelming opposition from within motor sport and, in the long run, his position appears hopeless.

Formula One being Formula One, however, there is always a conspiracy theory knocking on the door of reason. It was no surprise that a source close to Mosley in Barcelona was speculating that far from being a deliberate move to get rid of him, Ecclestone had gone to the team principals knowing that a unanimous decision on such a contentious issue was impossible. Thus the wily old fox was flushing out both the opposition and support for his beleaguered friend. Even with the best will in the world, this sounds far-fetched.

So where are we? Still gasping for air amid the biggest scandal in the sport in years and with the best chance of it coming to an end only when Mosley faces a confidence vote of all 222 FIA members in a secret ballot in Paris on June 3.

In the meantime, Mosley has managed one public appearance at the obscure Jordan Rally, but has been declared effectively persona non grata in Bahrain (where he was told not to turn up for the grand prix at the beginning of the month) and Israel (where an invitation from the Sports Minister for talks about the development of motor sport in that country was hastily withdrawn), while a visit to Spain this weekend was out of the question.

The most remarkable aspect to this saga is Mosley's refusal to do what many consider to be the right thing. His apparent imperviousness to embarrassment is astonishing. Richard Woods, the FIA spokesman and Mosley's “spin-master”, has never indicated that the president has any intention of resigning and nothing has changed this weekend.

Far from hiding his head in shame, Mosley appears to be positively enjoying the challenge of defying impossible odds, even at the risk of humiliation on June 3. Like most of the big hitters in Formula One, the 68-year-old craves attention and, after four weeks of scandal, he is still getting it.

Explore Formula 1

• Fantasy Formula 1