F1 feud back on as teams storm out

Eurosport - Thu, 09 Jul 14:38:00 2009

The threat of a breakaway Formula One series loomed again on Wednesday after Ferrari and seven other teams walked out of talks in Germany with the governing body and warned that the sport's future was at risk.

FORMULA 1 Ferrari Fota Luca Cordero di Montezemolo - 0

"The eight FOTA teams were invited to attend the meeting to discuss their further proposals for 2010," the International Automobile Federation said in a statement.

"Unfortunately, no discussion was possible because FOTA walked out of the meeting."

FOTA, who had threatened to set up their own championship until what seemed to be a breakthrough deal was announced in Paris last month, said in a statement that the future of Formula One was again "in jeopardy".

FOTA's members are championship leaders Brawn GP, BMW-Sauber, Ferrari, McLaren, Red Bull, Renault, Toro Rosso and Toyota.

The technical working group session, at the Nuerburgring before Sunday's German Grand Prix, had been due to bring together FOTA, the three new entrants for 2010 plus Williams and Force India who are suspended from FOTA.

However FOTA said they had been told during the course of Wednesday's meeting by FIA technical head Charlie Whiting that "contrary to previous agreements" they had no voting rights because they had not yet fully entered for 2010.

The situation effectively left the five non-FOTA teams, four of whom have yet to score a point in Formula One, making decisions while the likes of Ferrari, champions with an unbroken 60 years in the sport, would have been simply observers.

A request for the meeting to be postponed was rejected and FOTA said they had no option but to walk out because they could not exercise their rights.

FIA president Max Mosley had written to the five non-FOTA teams on Tuesday reminding them that the published 2010 regulations could only be changed with the unanimous agreement of all confirmed teams.

In a separate letter to Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo, he said that the five non-FOTA teams were the only ones fully confirmed for next season at present.

FOTA said that at no point in the Paris discussions "was any requirement for unanimous agreement on regulations change expressed.

"To subsequently go against the will of the WMSC and the detail of the Paris agreement puts the future of Formula One in jeopardy."

The FIA said the aim of the meeting had been to agree changes to the 2010 regulations, in line with the decision taken last month to revert to the version of the sporting and technical rules in place until April 29 this year.

That Paris deal had looked fragile almost immediately, with Mosley accusing Montezemolo of likening him to a dictator.

Mosley had said he would not seek re-election when his term of office ends in October, with his departure seen as a key part of the deal, but the Briton has subsequently hinted he is inclined to stand again.

Wednesday's FIA statement said that "all changes have now been agreed subject only to the maintenance of the minimum (car) weight at 620 kg and the signing of a legally binding agreement between all the teams competing in 2010 to reduce costs to the level of the early 1990s within two years, as promised by the FOTA representative in Paris on 24 June."

The minimum car weight is significant because it was originally due to be raised to take account of the costly KERS kinetic energy recovery system which the FOTA teams want to abandon for 2010.

Reuters

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  1. SEND THE FIA TO THE SIN BIN FOR BRINGING THE SPORT INTO­ DISREPUTE... GIVE MOSLEY AND ECCLESTONE THEIR FREE BUS­ PASSES TO TIMBUCKTWO... PAY THE TEAMS THEIR DUES...­ HAVE A COMPETITIVE TEAM FOR CHAMPION ROOKIES TO GET 2­ RACES A YEAR EACH ..eg CHAMPIONSHIP WINNERS TO RUN A­ THIRD CAR FOR A YEAR FOR THEM!

    From martin, on Sat 11 Jul 1:01AM

  2. There sure is a whole lot of low ratings out there!­ Everybody must be drunk! Michael C.

    From Michael C, on Fri 10 Jul 10:35AM

  3. It's all hype like everything else in F1. Any story­ will do to keep F1 in the news.

    I think they should­ join up with the similar "sport" of WWE.

    btw­ I used to like it when it appeared they were racing­ each other.

    From damlf, on Fri 10 Jul 12:52AM
  4. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    Copy and paste next time­ POTTER, marnio, Burt­ posts

    POTTER was recently busted­ on these very­ forums.

    Marnio from peru made a mistake­ and posted in­ the yahoo 20-20 india and pakistan­ cricket forums­ using three of his other alias's,­ talking about­ indian and pakistani cricket and his­ motherland and­ how the British cut it in two.

    MARNIO­ FROM PERU IS A­ BRITISH ASIAN AND HATES THE UK

    Marnio­ from peru,­ potter, bernard lives in the UK but is of­­ Pakistani/Indian descent

    MARNIO FROM PERU IS A­ BRITISH­ ASIAN AND HATES THE UK

    MARNIO FROM PERU IS A­ BRITISH­ ASIAN AND HATES THE UK

    Marnio from peru,­ potter,­ bernard lives in the UK but is of­ Pakistani/Indian­ descent

    MARNIO FROM PERU IS A­ BRITISH ASIAN AND HATES­ THE UK

    Copy save and post­ when required!!!!!!

    From Alistair, on Fri 10 Jul 12:02AM
  5. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    a Alonso hea would a be un a stoppable ifa hea join a­ ferrari the a best a driver onna track witha vettel a­ closing a in mr a hamilton asun now a hasa been,,the a­ forgotten a man..FIA a disgrace

    From , on Thu 9 Jul 9:33PM

  6. ecg_nemesis, the Football association set up the rules­ not the budget. See what happens if they tell the teams­ how much to spend on a player. FIA overstepped their­ authorities and try to tell the teams how to spend­ their money. They will have to set up a whole division­ to check on the teams to make sure nobody would­ overspend. A task which is close to impossible .

    From harbour, on Thu 9 Jul 8:30PM

  7. Ecclescake does not own Donington, but he has friends­ who do!!!!

    From Ellie, on Thu 9 Jul 6:20PM

  8. Johnny I think they own Spa, Donnington and one of the­ French circuits. Obviously at the moment Donni and the­ Frecn circuit are not being used for F1 but they wont­ be used for any other series either.

    I wouldnt be­ surprised if his company had interests in some of the­ new circuits either.

    Sorry I havent got much info, if­ someone out there is better informed than me then­ please let us know.

    From B Mackenzie, on Thu 9 Jul 6:05PM
  9. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    CONGRATULATIONS ON THEIR ACTION

    THEY MUST BE ALLOWED­ TO SPEND THEIR OWN MONEY THE WAY THEY WISH

    From sunita139, on Thu 9 Jul 5:53PM

  10. owen gayer, the unions at Mercedes stated ealier this­ year that they would not allow jobs loses whilst they­ keep pumping money into F1.

    From Johnny Bop, on Thu 9 Jul 5:46PM

  11. mga you wacky pr!ck!

    From kim.date, on Thu 9 Jul 5:39PM

  12. Johnny, add to that the large job losses likely to­ occur within these car companies as the recession­ continues. The Unions have already stated they will not­ accept job cuts while large quantities of money are­ wasted on funding F1 teams.

    From owen gayer, on Thu 9 Jul 5:30PM

  13. Lucky, here is some info for you. Toyota are forcasting­ a 10 billion lose for this finanical year, BMW made a­ 128 Million euro lose last finanical lose and are­ excepted to make a even larger lose in this finanical­ year. Renault are up to the eyeballs in massive debt. ­ They have borrowed 100 million from the European banks­ and have borrowed 3 Billion euros from the French­ government. The share holders and those companies and­ governments that have lent these companies money will­ wont their make back a quick as possible and they will­ not except these companies to carry on throwing money­ into a sport that does not make any money. F1 is a big­ money sport and in this current situation, companies­ can not afford to keep throw money into a sport that­ cost 200 to 300 million whilst making massive loses.

    From Johnny Bop, on Thu 9 Jul 5:15PM
  14. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    Thanks for your comment,

    I didnt take anything­ seriously but that is what my opinion is & actually­ what is going to happen in next few days.. I'm not­ always right but I'm never wrong

    From Lucky, on Thu 9 Jul 5:09PM
  15. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    Lucky what did you smoke today ....dreaming­ ....dreaming....and maybe Pamela Anderson wants a date­ with you...dreaming ... dreaming

    From Ape, on Thu 9 Jul 5:02PM

  16. from fia website

    The following teams have been­­ accepted for the 2010 FIA Formula One World­­ Championship.

    TEAM / CONSTRUCTOR
    SCUDERIA FERRARI­­ MARLBORO / FERRARI
    VODAFONE McLAREN MERCEDES / McLAREN­­ MERCEDES
    BMW SAUBER F1 TEAM / BMW SAUBER
    RENAULT F1­­ TEAM / RENAULT
    PANASONIC TOYOTA RACING /­­ TOYOTA
    SCUDERIA TORO ROSSO / STR TBA
    RED BULL RACING /­­ RBR TBA
    AT&T WILLIAMS / WILLIAMS TOYOTA
    FORCE­ INDIA­ F1 TEAM / FORCE INDIA MERCEDES
    BRAWN GP FORMULA­ ONE­ TEAM / BRAWN TBA
    CAMPOS META TEAM / CAMPOS­­ COSWORTH
    MANOR GRAND PRIX / MANOR COSWORTH
    TEAM US F1­ /­ TEAM US F1 COSWORTH

    In view of this new agreement­ and­ with the prospect of a stable future for Formula­ One,­ FIA President Max Mosley has confirmed his­ decision not­ to stand for re-election in October this­ year.

    so how­ can they say fota have no vote as they­ are accepted for­ 2010

    From JAMES, on Thu 9 Jul 4:56PM
  17. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    Johhny, My dear friend I know the condition under which­ we are living but It cannot stay longer as it was­ happened in past also. But Formula one & other­ sport survive since long time. Renault, BMW &­ Toyota are ready to sign Concorde which is mandate them­ to take part in sport until 2012(Even they are ready to­ stick with this sport if FIA consider FOTA rules &­ needs) so it just blooming for pull out from sport.­ Honda is biggest manufacturer but they didn’t find­ space to survive on track as they were far behind­ leader (Where Toyota is still 3rd on Constructor Champ­ & BMW got win 1-2 last year and they looking for­ new drivers, Renault is satisfied with performance as­ they have clinch two successive victories last year).­ So forget that all & see what Manufacturer can do.­ They have all to do & European Manufacturer group­ is also ready to support to survive rebel teams to set­ an alternative series. What they want more? Now it’s an­ FIA which turn to survive their entity. Formula one­ without current 8 rebel team is just can’t F1 any more­ my friend. I never want to see such championship or­ nobody can like it. It has been surveyed that 90­ percent people do not want to come at circuit and see­ such championship.

    From Lucky, on Thu 9 Jul 4:50PM

  18. Lucky, there is NO MONEY. The world is in financial­ melt down and sponsor are pulling out all the time. ­ Look at how many sponsor have already left F1 and quite­ a few with sponsorship deals are coming to and end and­ these companies are not looking at renewing their­ deals. Branson has said he may have to pull out of­ Brawn next season because of the cost.... We will be­ losing 3 teams next season. These teams are Toyota,­ BMW and Renault. This means RBR could have to pull out­ if they can not find a new engine...

    From Johnny Bop, on Thu 9 Jul 4:35PM
  19. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    no sir i say . aint no call fer a break away series.­ ifin the teams were to make it right the brits­ wouldn't be able to follow it . ITV comin up with a­ new series called " Carry on F1 " starring­ Sid James.

    From Francis S, on Thu 9 Jul 4:23PM
  20. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    the hamster slapping will continue.

    From Burt, on Thu 9 Jul 4:14PM
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