The ten Formula One teams have agreed to meet again, at Ferrari's Maranello base, to discuss rule proposals for 2011.
Ferrari has offered to stage the next round of talks to decide the future technical direction of Formula One, following the FIA's push to slash budgets and make the sport 'greener'.
All ten teams principals have agreed to meet at the Scuderia's Maranello headquarters on 29 July to discuss proposals to cut the level of spending in the top flight, as well as mull over the latest technical requirements put forward by FIA president Max Mosley, who wrote to the teams earlier this month and issued a three-month deadline for their thoughts, after which the governing body would implement its own ideas.
The teams held an interim meeting at the Williams motorhome during last weekend's German Grand Prix, but the main thrust of their thinking is expected to come at the Maranello get-together.
"Not a lot was done, we were trying to get some understanding of what we want to achieve at Maranello," team boss Frank Williams confirmed to Reuters, "There were no real specifics."
Mosley's letter, sent on 3 July, demanded that the teams produce their own suggestions - 'sufficiently detailed to allow precise rules to be drafted' - for the future shape of F1's technical rules by 3 October, covering areas such as reducing costs and improving both fuel efficiency and the spectacle of racing [see separate story - click here].
The timing of the Italian meeting is interesting as it comes just two days before entries for next season are closed, and could provide interesting food for thought for those not yet committed to 2009. Toyota team boss John Howett revealed that the Cologne-based operation has yet to pledge itself to next season, and others are thought to be in the same boat.
"All the teams just want to meet together and discuss Max's letter and see if they can find any common ground on a position," Howett explained, "He's written to us, he's given us a very short deadline and probably unrealistic targets, and I think the teams just want to sit down and say 'look, this is possibly the common position from everybody'."
Ferrari's 'offer' to host the meeting is also seen as another step towards an entente cordiale in F1. The Scuderia recently announced that it wanted to 'put an end' to the espionage affair that dogged 2008, and was duly invited to a McLaren-Mercedes function at Hockenheim.
"[The meeting] will be used to discuss future changes [in F1], following Max Mosley's letter," Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali confirmed, "It's a good opportunity to share and discuss what are the views about the teams that are involved in the sport. Ferrari, and above all our president, is very keen to participate. Ferrari is part of F1 and Mr Montezemolo is really keen on that."




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At last the Teams are getting their act together, they are F1 not the FIA, the FIA don’t have any bloody cars or drivers and they don’t own the tracks, the supporters support the drivers and the teams not the FIA.
If the teams say they need more time to sort out the unrealistic targets of running the cars on half the fuel and the team on half the money and race faster and more competitive, they should say we want more time and we want more time before we agree to sign up for next season, why was that brought forward?
They are being bullied into submitting, let’s just hope they start to talk to the FIA as one body and explain a few things about F1 racing from the team’s point of view.
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