Max Mosley, the disgraced president of the FIA, has admitted that he was “demeaned and humiliated” by the revelations about his penchant for sadomasochistic bondage sessions with prostitutes.

The development came as Gerhard Berger, the former Formula One driver, emerged as a candidate to succeed Mosley. There are signs that Berger, co-owner of the Toro Rosso team, is seen as a more popular option than the front-runner, Jean Todt, the former Ferrari team principal.

With only a week to go before Mosley faces a vote of no-confidence at a general assembly of the FIA in Paris, submissions by his lawyers to the High Court in London were published yesterday in advance of his case for invasion of privacy against the News of the World, the newspaper that published the story.

Mosley's lawyers, in documents filed in early April, say that the FIA president. who has refused calls to resign, suffered “grave distress and embarrassment as a result of the article, and in particular the disclosure of this deeply intrusive and personal material”. They say: “The revelation of the Claimant's [Mosley] most intimate sexual fantasies was seriously demeaning and humiliating. It was also extremely upsetting for his family. In short, this material should never have been published, let alone in a national newspaper,” the lawyers added.

The lawyers also attack the claim by the News of the World that Mosley was knowingly involved in Nazi-style role play. “The Claimant will also rely upon the Defendant's [News of the World] dishonest fabrication of the ‘Nazi' sting, which was conceived as part of a phoney attempt to create some justification for what is (as the Defendant knew full well) a wholly unwarranted intrusion into the Claimant's private life,” the lawyers argue.

After his low-key appearance at the Monaco Grand Prix, Mosley is said to be confident that he will win the vote on June 3 and remain in office until the end of his mandate in October next year. He is also said to be looking forward to holding a big press conference in Paris after the decision, having kept his counsel in Monte Carlo despite numerous requests for interviews.

Up until now Todt has been viewed as Mosley's favoured candidate to succeed him, but Berger is increasingly being talked of as an alternative.

A man much admired by Mosley, the Austrian is an articulate advocate for the sport and is widely respected within Formula One. Last weekend he spoke up enthusiastically for Mosley at the Monaco Grand Prix, in response to a question “planted” by the FIA at an FIA-moderated official press conference. Berger lauded Mosley's contribution to road safety and described the Englishman as exactly the type of “strong guy” the sport needs.