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The Nazi orgy row engulfing Max Mosley appears to have intensified after the FIA President referred to Mercedes’ and BMW’s history “particularly before and during the Second World War”.

This morning, ahead of the weekend's Bahrain GP, Mercedes and BMW issued a joint statement regarding the News of the World’s story in which Mosley was accused of being whipped by five prostitutes dressed as Nazis. “The content of the publications is disgraceful. As a company, we strongly distance ourselves from it,” said the two German manufacturers.

Mosley, 67, who has already written to FIA members to apologise for the embarrassment, took little time in responding. “Given the history of BMW and Mercedes Benz, particularly before and during the Second World War, I fully understand why they would wish to strongly distance themselves,” he said.

"Unfortunately, they did not contact me before putting out their statement to ask whether the content was in fact true. No doubt the FIA will respond to them in due course as I am about to respond to the newspaper in question,” he added.

Pressure is mounting in the F1 paddock this afternoon for Mosley to resign. Toyota stressed the importance of “senior figures maintaining high standards of behaviour” and stated that the company “strongly distanced itself" from Mosley’s actions.

Meanwhile, Honda stated it was “extremely disappointed by recent events surrounding Mr Mosley and concerned that the reputation of Formula One and all its participants is being damaged".

Sir Jackie Stewart was among the first to call for Mosley to stand down and Sir Stirling Moss has also questioned whether Mosley can continue as the head of motorsport’s governing body.

Mosley, the son of pre-war fascist leader Oswald Mosley, released a statement earlier in the week saying he would not resign and stressing he had “received a very large number of messages of sympathy and support from those within the FIA and motor sport”.

He also confirmed that he would not be attending this weekend’s Bahrain GP, citing the need to spend time with his lawyers preparing a case against the News of the World.

However, The Times reports today that Mosley has in fact received a personal letter from the Crown Prince of Bahrain telling him not to attend this weekend’s race.

Will Powell

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