FOTA at war with FIA again over 2010 rules
Formula One in disarray again as FIA-FOTA truce collapses
Relations between the FIA and the Formula One Teams Association (FOTA) broke down again today after the so-called ‘FOTA eight’, angry at being robbed of voting rights over next year’s rules, walked out of a meeting with the FIA at the Nurburgring.
The purpose of the meeting was to finalise the rules for 2010 in line with the peace deal that was brokered between FOTA and the FIA at the World Motorsport Council meeting on 24 June in Paris. The two parties agreed to scrap the controversial budget cap and retain the current 2009 rules for 2010, while agreeing to reduce costs to the level seen in the early 1990s within two years.
However, following a timely reminder by FIA President Max Mosely yesterday, FOTA was officially informed today that because it only compromises eight of the thirteen teams that are signed up to the 2010 world championship, it has no say over the regulations.
“During the course of this meeting, the team managers were informed by Mr Charlie Whiting of the FIA that, contrary to previous agreements, the eight FOTA teams are not currently entered into the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship and have no voting rights in relation to the technical and sporting regulations thereof,” FOTA said in a statement.
That prompted an angry reaction from the team representatives who walked out of the meeting with the FIA when asked for their input on the new rules.
The FIA gave their version of events: “The eight FOTA teams were invited to attend the meeting to discuss their further proposals for 2010. Unfortunately no discussion was possible because FOTA walked out of the meeting.”
FOTA were quick to respond by reminding the FIA that: “All eight active FOTA members were included on the “accepted” entry list as endorsed by the FIA World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) and communicated by FIA press statement on June 24.
“In light of these claims, the FOTA representatives requested a postponement of today’s meetings. This was rejected on the grounds that no new Concorde Agreement would be permitted before a unanimous approval of the 2010 regulations was achieved.”
“It is clear to the FOTA teams that the basis of the 2010 technical and sporting regulations was already established in Paris.
“As endorsed by the WMSC and clearly stated in the FIA press statement of 24 June “the rules for 2010 onwards will be the 2009 regulations as well as further regulations agreed prior to 29 April 2009. At no point in the Paris discussions was any requirement for unanimous agreement on regulations change expressed.
FOTA went on to accuse the FIA of putting Formula 1 into jeopardy: “To subsequently go against the will of the WMSC and the detail of the Paris agreement puts the future of Formula 1 in jeopardy.”
“As a result of these statements, the FOTA representatives at the subsequent Technical Working Group were not able to exercise their rights and therefore had no option other than to terminate their participation.”
The breakdown between the FIA and FOTA leaves the sport in disarray once again with renewed fears of a possible breakaway championship led by FOTA and the manufacturer teams.
With the amount of time needed for the three new teams to build next year’s cars quickly diminishing, and indeed too for the current teams, the pressure is on to finalise next year’s regulations, or else plans for a breakaway could quickly gather pace.
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autogyro | Jul 8, 2009 | Reply
Fota does not run F1 the FIA does.
They cannot dictate rules when they are only part of the entrant list.
It is time for people to wake up to the real purpose of Fota. It is to de stabilize the FIA and take over F1 for the benefit of the big car makers and the oil industry in the face of economic crisis and modern technology that they cannot deal with.
Scarlet Pimpernel | Jul 9, 2009 | Reply
Listen carefully AutoGyro: FIA does NOT run F1 …. it regulates the rules and regulations that are put into place by the commercial holder and with input by the teams the World Motor Sport Council the drivers on safety , etc. They have no legal powerover the content of F1…the FiA is overseeing its regulatory fairness. Did you know that the FIA aren’t even necessary ? Any regulatry body which can oversee and interpret the F1 rules objectively can do it ! No Im not a bloody lawyer like Max …. but what Max and his pals have done is to make everyone think that FiA somehow is in charge of everything in F1. When will everybody wake up and realize that without the teams there is nothing ! I respect the new teams addition but who would watch F1 if it was only 6 or 9 lower caliber teams zooming around the track in Baharain – no relevance to this TV audience. Note to Eccelstone: Bernie you worked so hard making F1 what it is today and you opened the eyes of all the team owners regarding the golden goose of an opportunity that existed….my question is this….why are you letting a guy like Max risk its 5 billion Euro value ? Stop this now Bernie !
Scarlet Pimpernel | Jul 9, 2009 | Reply
written under the infleunce of great sadness – seeing a great motorsport be threatened by too many egos and not enough appreciation of and commitment to F1.
Tim Holt | Jul 9, 2009 | Reply
I raced a Formula Vee in New Zealand for many years and each year we, the Formula Vee Association, held a rules meeting at which the rules were determined for the coming year and we then advised the Motorsport Association of New Zealand of these rules – which were then policed for us by the MANZ. As we the drivers were also the owners, the rules were determined by vote of the owners and this is how it should be in Formula 1. The teams ie. the owners, should determine by popular consenus what the rules should be and the FIA should police these rules only!
MJLangley | Jul 9, 2009 | Reply
I don’t understand why the teams have anything to do with the FIA. The teams invented the sport and don’t need the FIA to tell them how to run it. The FIA is just a bunch of self interested opportunists who demand 60% of all the revenue at all levels, in order to feather their own nests, and offer nothing in return other than an uneven playing field to favor those who pay them more than 60%.
The teams should just walk away and setup the FOTO World Championship and never look back. The F1 series will die off quickly enough without any big teams and then we can all get back to watching the racing, albeit under a new name. People only watch F1 because of the teams, not the vagary of the rules and the blatant manipulation of the results which the FIA is famous for (for example giving Ferrari the World Championship a couple of years ago, even though they only had half the points of the leading team, on the grounds that a Ferarri employee gave unsolicited information to a McLaren employee who was immediately suspended).
Scarlet Pimpernel | Jul 9, 2009 | Reply
The FOTA teams are swayed solely by the fear of the unknown: namely how difficult, how costly, and how succesful will a breakaway series will prove to be. Than theyhave to present these rough estimates to their car manufacturer employers and hope their business case stands the test. But from the rumours I have heard in London and in Paris, the manufacturer-backed teams RISK MORE by remaining in F1 and seeing FI introduce ridiculous car design regulation changes in an ad hoc manner than in starting ttheir own series. What they need to protect their imvestmets in their F1 racing programs is CONTINUITY…. a sense that they can “plan” their way towards victory. Today in F1 the teams can’t even depend on the actual signed Press Releases announced by the FiA.