Max Mosley, who announced at the beginning of the month he would be stepping down as FIA president in October, has had a change of heart and will stay in office at least until October 2005.
The International Automobile Federation said in a statement that the FIA Senate, consisting of eight of its most senior members, had met in London today after calling on Mosley to stay in office at least until the end of his mandate in October next year.
The statement said that Mosley had told the Senate he had received approaches from all sections of FIA, motor racing's ruling body, and felt "bound to accede to the Senate's request."
It added: "He expressed his thanks for the confidence shown in him by both the Senate and the full membership of the FIA."
Mosley said: "I am staying. Everybody said you have got to stay. It got to the stage where it would have been wrong for the FIA. What they were saying is that you can't do something like that with so little notice. They need more time."
Mosley would not confirm whether he would stand for re-election after October 2005. "We will worry about that later," he said.