The story everyone talked about in F1 was Max Mosley's reported nazi-style sex scandal, so Bernie decided a holiday card highlighting the horror would be the best route. Laughter is the best medicine, right?

Bernie's not one to avoid controversy with his personal holiday cards. Last year, the F1 CEO poked fun at the McLaren-Ferrari spy scandal, depicting a nervous Ron Dennis being handed a gift-wrapped present by former chief designer Mike Coughlan. But this year's cartoon takes things to an entirely different level.

The card cartoon allegedly shows Mosley whipping the member of an F1 team next to a monitor wearing fishnets and high heels. Other F1 members are depicted with "sore bottoms" so, you know, the usual Christmas message. We haven't actually seen the card so this is all "reported" — but if you've got one in your inbox or seen one in a forum please send it this way. Zank you! (Hat tip to Autophiles!)

[Source: F1 Live]

Dean Attew, who The Times describes as a "London-based business intelligence consultant", uncovered the plot. Attew formerly assisted Ecclestone with "a wide variety of issues concerning...business and family affairs," and still feels some loyalty to the Formula One owner. Now employed by Titon International, the company that was employing ex-KGB spy Alexander Litvinenko when he was poisoned and in whose office traces of Polonium-210 were found, Attew was approached to assist in the plot to bring down Mosley by unnamed parties. Fearing that the plot could harm his former boss as well, he then brought that information to Ecclestone.

"Dean, you are not going to find anything because there's nothing there - he's Mr Boring in that sense," Ecclestone told Attew upon learning of the plot. Since the release of the Max Mosley sex video, Mosley has done nothing to address suggestions that Ecclestone was involved with the attempt to publicly discredit him, leaving Attew to feel under-appreciated for his efforts. [via The Times]

The Times goes on to report that "the clear majority of team managers" think that Mosley's refusal to resign is hurting the sport. According to the paper, the Monaco Royal Family have expressed similar concerns. Mosley was ordered by the Royal family of Bahrain not to attend their F1 round, didn't attend the Spanish Grand Prix for fear of embarrassing King Juan Carlos and the Turkish Prime Minister's office approached Bernie Ecclestone to ensure their boss wouldn't encounter the besieged FIA President.

FIA's general assembly will meet on June 3rd for a vote of no confidence in their President. [via The Times]

The audio stream has Mosley talking like ze Germans he seemingly fantasizes about — except since his understanding of the German language is at about the ninth-grade high school level, he ends up talking mitt ze accent zan mitt ze German vords. That's right, he says some lines which we're sure will now become classic, like:

"Ze need more of ze punishment I think."

"You are doing good job. Zank you."

The orgy characterized by NOTW as having a "Nazi theme" took place on Friday at a $4 million apartment-cum-dungeon near Mosley's home in London's upscale Chelsea neighborhood.

As President of FIA, Mosley is responsible for overseeing international motor sports, including Formula One. He enjoys a close relationship with F1 Supremo Bernie Ecclestone.

Mosley's father Oswald was a notorious fascist and Hitler supporter. Max has been controversially linked to his father's beliefs.

Kicking off the orgy by playing a detainee, Mosley had both his genitals and head inspected for lice, in a way reminiscent to portrayals of incoming concentration camp detainees, before lying to the hookers to purposefully bring about a severe beating. After the session ended, the girls enjoyed a glass of wine. Mosley was offered one as well, but turned it down in favor of a cup of tea. It's not known what ramifications this will have on Mosley's career or the sport he governs. [Via News Of The World]

UPDATE:Mosley got to keep his job despite acknowledging he participated in an encounter with sex workers in a basement apartment in London. On top of that, Mosley also headed to the UK courts to claim characterizations of Nazi overtones by NOTW were completely invalid, and even if they were valid, it was done in the privacy of someone else's home.

UK High Court judge David Eady apparently agreed on both of those counts. In a ruling hailed by the former Archbishop of Canterbury as a 'dangerous precedent' undermining public morality, the News of the World must now pay Mosley $120,000 in damages, plus legal costs of an estimated $1.7 million, for making the claim. Thanks to legal threats from Mosley's attorneys waving about Eady's ruling, we've removed the NOTW video from our own site, or else face similar attacks on our own free speech.