Max Mosley would probably have been sacked without compensation had he been in charge of a leading British company instead of a sports governing body, City figures said yesterday.

The 68-year-old president of the FIA has infuriated many in Formula One by clinging on to his post, but the lurid tabloid exposé of his alleged sadomasochistic orgies with prostitutes would be enough to finish the career of any British chief executive, according to James Davies, one of the country's leading employment lawyers.

Davies, the joint head of the employment and incentives department at Lewis Silkin, the London-based law firm, said: “You'd invariably find a clause that the company reserves the right to terminate the employment immediately without compensation if you act in a manner that brings the organisation into disrepute.

“When someone engages in something in their private lives, normally that has little bearing on their employment. There is an exception when they are the face of that organisation. When they are the head and the public figure you'd be advising the employer that there's strong grounds for dismissal. They would be likely to be able to terminate without payment.”

Sir Jackie Stewart voiced his demands again yesterday that Mosley should be forced to stand down, with the three-times world drivers' champion saying that it was impossible for him to survive because he would have breached the “corporate moral guidelines” of any business that invested in Formula One.

“He's gone beyond anything they would tolerate,” Stewart said. “I think it's going to be very difficult commercially for the companies involved in Formula One to carry that and the motor clubs to carry it. I think that's quite serious.”

Strict corporate codes govern the employment of senior City figures, Mike Emmott, an employment relations adviser for the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, said. “They are the house rules and are part of everyone's employment contract,” Emmott said. “Senior guys who do things that make them or the company a laughing stock, that are seen as a distraction from their day job usually have to go. The public image of a firm has to be utmost. Personal behaviour can't be seen to damage that.”

Most business figures approached by The Times were unwilling to criticise Mosley for fear of inadvertently associating their company with the scandal. Investors also said that had behaviour akin to Mosley's taken place in the boardroom of City firms, they would think twice about the company. George Dallas, the director of corporate governance at F&C, one of Britain's biggest asset managers, said: “Investors expect clear probity from the executives of the firm they're investing in. If there's a clear error in judgment of that nature, it's something that as investors we would be very concerned about.”

Over the weekend Carlos Gracia, president of the RFEA, Spain's motor sport authority, said that he was delighted that Mosley had not turned up for the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona on Sunday. “Under the circumstances, his attitude and personal life has caused major damage to FIA's image,” Gracia said.

Mosley faces a vote of confidence of all 222 members of the FIA in a secret ballot in Paris on June 3.

Kovalainen hopes for quick return

Heikki Kovalainen, the McLaren Mercedes team-mate of Lewis Hamilton, said yesterday that he could remember nothing of his crash during the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona on Sunday, when his car left the track at 140mph and plunged into the tyre wall. “I don't remember anything from the accident or what happened afterwards,” the Finn, who was knocked unconscious, said.

Kovalainen was expected to be released from hospital in Barcelona last night. “I have a headache and a stiff neck, but am in good spirits,” he said, adding that he hopes to drive in the Turkish Grand Prix, in Istanbul, a week on Sunday. The crash occurred when Kovalainen's front-left tyre burst. McLaren believe debris on the track may have caused the tyre's deflation.

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