Fisichella closes on Ferrari move

Giancarlo Fisichella is poised to make a temporary switch to Ferrari ahead of next month's Italian Grand Prix.
Confirmation of the Force India driver's move could come on Tuesday, a source close to Ferrari told BBC Sport.
Force India commercial director Ian Phillips told Radio 5 live on Monday: "We do expect a move will probably be made in the next 24 hours or so."
Fisichella would replace Luca Badoer, who has struggled as a replacement for the injured Felipe Massa.
Badoer, Ferrari's official reserve driver, was drafted in to replace the injured Felipe Massa after legendary seven-time F1 champion Michael Schumacher was forced to shelve his comeback plans.
Massa is recovering at home in Brazil after suffering a fractured skull in a crash during qualifying at the Hungarian Grand Prix in July.
The 28-year-old is targeting a return at the Brazilian Grand Prix on 18 October, but there is speculation that Massa will not be able to race until at least next season.
Ferrari are believed to have run out of patience with Badoer, who has qualified last at both of his races so far.
While Raikkonen won Sunday's race at Spa, Badoer trailed in last, nearly 48 seconds slower than the driver in front.
The Italian GP is on the 13 September, followed by Grands Prix in Singapore and Japan, before the teams head to Brazil.
Phillips added: "Nobody's asked us yet but I think it's pretty likely that somebody will make a phone call to (Force India team boss) Vijay Mallya over the next 24 hours or so asking if we would release him to Ferrari.
"I don't think they [Force India] have really got any options [but to release him].
"Ferrari being Ferrari, it's their home race at Monza, which is a place with a cauldron-like atmosphere, particularly for the Italians - seats will be thrown on the track if Ferrari aren't doing well.
"So they're going to have to put sombody in there who can basically run around with Raikkonen at the front of the field."
Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali said on Sunday: "With regard with what we are going to do for the next races we will tell you in the next three days.
"We are going to take all into consideration. It depends how the medical check-up that Felipe will do tomorrow (goes) and then we will put on the table all the different things. And then we will make a decision."
Fisichella told BBC Sport at the Belgian Grand Prix that it would be a "dream" to drive for Ferrari, but did not confirm that he had been approached.
The 36-year-old Italian's manager, Enrico Zanarini, told BBC Sport on Sunday that Ferrari had not been in contact.
"Nobody's been in touch," Zanarini said. "We find ourselves in a fantastic team with a great car for Monza because if the car is quick here it will be quick in Monza."
If he does move to Ferrari, Fisichella would drive only as a replacement for Massa - double world champion Fernando Alonso will switch to the team for 2010, although the Spaniard's move has not yet been confirmed.
Fisichella's contract with Force India runs out at the end of the 2009 season.
Force India would likely promote their reserve driver Vitantonio Liuzzi if Fisichella moved on.


By Adam Feneley
Motorsport Engineering
www.motorsportengineering.blogspot.com
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Alonso tops Valencia practice

Renault's double world champion lapped the Mediterranean port's street circuit with a quickest time of one minute, 39.404 seconds, despite an earlier collision with BMW-Sauber's Nick Heidfeld.

Brawn GP's World Championship leader Jenson Button was second fastest, 0.774 slower than the Spaniard, with Brazilian team-mate Rubens Barrichello third.

Barrichello had set the pace in the morning with a time of 1:42.460.

In what would have been a nightmare scenario for local organisers, Alonso had until Monday been in danger of missing Sunday's race after his team were handed a one-race ban in Hungary last month.

That suspension was overturned at an appeal hearing.

The Spaniard said the broadside collision with Heidfeld, which lifted and almost rolled the BMW, was just a "normal incident" but the German did not see it that way and described Alonso's behaviour as "stupid".

Ferrari stand-in Luca Badoer completed 62 laps, more than a race distance, in the two sessions but collected three fines totalling 5,400 euros and a reprimand for speeding in the pit lane.

The 38-year-old Italian, preparing for his first start in a decade after Brazilian Felipe Massa was seriously injured in Hungary, was more than a second slower than everyone else in the opening session.

However, with retired seven-times champion Michael Schumacher watching from the pit wall, he lifted himself off the bottom in the afternoon to end up 18th and ahead of McLaren's world champion Lewis Hamilton.

Schumacher, who retired in 2006 and is now 40 years old, would have taken Massa's place but the German had to abort his planned comeback due to a neck injury suffered in a bike crash earlier in the year.

Hamilton had been third in the morning but hit the wall after lunch and was then sidelined by a lack of fresh parts.

"I touched the wall, but didn't even really feel the impact," he said. "I only grazed the front wing but, unfortunately, it couldn't be repaired as we didn't have a spare."

Button's time sent a clear indication that his Mercedes-powered team have got to the bottom of the problems that kept him off the podium for the past three races.

The Briton, who leads Red Bull's Australian Mark Webber by a comfortable 18.5 points after winning six of the first seven races of the year, was quickest for much of the opening session.

"It's encouraging to see that the car seems to be on the pace again," he said.

France's Romain Grosjean made an assured debut after replacing Brazilian Nelson Piquet Jr at Renault, lapping 17th and 13th fastest respectively.

Spanish rookie Jaime Alguersuari also put on a good show for the locals, although the grandstands looked very empty, with the 13th best time for Toro Rosso in the morning.

Join Eurosport-Yahoo! for live text commentary and timing from all practice and qualifying sessions plus the race in Valencia this weekend!!



By Adam Feneley
Motorsport Engineering
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Alonso 'will move to Ferrari'

Fernando Alonso will move from Renault to Ferrari next year and spark a cascade of other driver changes, according to McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh.
The double world champion's expected switch is an open secret in Formula 1, but Whitmarsh is the first senior figure publicly to acknowledge it.
"I think we all know that the Fernando-Ferrari move has a knock-on effect that ripples through the other teams," he said.
Ferrari said Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa were already contracted for 2010.
"He (Whitmarsh) can say what he wants, there is no 'Fernando-Ferrari move'," said a spokesman for the Italian team.
"Things can happen and not happen. But you cannot talk about any Fernando-Ferrari move. We have two drivers with a contract until the end of 2010. We are not under pressure to change anything."
Alonso, who denied last month that he had signed a contract with Ferrari, has ducked questions about his future since arriving in Valencia for this weekend's European Grand Prix.
Whitmarsh's remarks were made in an interview with BBC Sport in which he addressed rumours that McLaren will replace Heikki Kovalainen with Nico Rosberg as Lewis Hamilton's team-mate next year.
"At the moment we have not had, nor are we in, conversations with any other drivers and we will see in the future. In reality, there are some changes probably with Fernando and Ferrari and that frees up the driver market," he said.
"Every year there are a number of pivotal points during the season which determine what is going to happen in the drivers' market.
"This year I think we all know that the Fernando-Ferrari move has a knock on and that ripples through the other teams.
"Clearly the BMW withdrawal will also have an impact.
"So I don't think we see a need at the moment to rush into it. I think we are concentrating on developing the car and making sure we are more competitive, which I think we will be this weekend.
"Heikki is pushing hard. He is a driver who can drive the car very quickly - if you look at his fuel corrected qualifying times, he has been massively competitive.
"But he hasn't performed quite as well as he - and we - would like him to in the races."
Ferrari are reported to be planning to partner Alonso with Massa and are said to be in negotiations with Raikkonen's management to pay off a proportion of the Finn's 2010 contract before moving him on to another team.
Brawn, Renault and Toyota have all been linked with the 29-year-old, who won the world championship in his first year with Ferrari in 2007.
But the injury suffered by Massa at the Hungarian Grand Prix last month has complicated matters.
He is recovering from the fractured skull and damaged eye he sustained after he was hit on the helmet by a spring that had become detached from Rubens Barrichello's Brawn, so there is some doubt about when and whether he will be able to make a full return to F1.
In that context, Ferrari may wish to keep open the possibility of Raikkonen driving for the team in 2010 in the event that Massa fails to make a full recovery.
Massa, who is recuperating at home in Brazil, has targeted a return at his home Grand Prix on 18 October, and was visited last week by Ferrari team boss Stefano Domenicali.
But the Ferrari spokesman said it was too early to predict any comeback by Massa.
"We are all happy Felipe is getting better and better every day. But we are all - including Felipe - aware that we have to be patient.
"He is having another CT (brain) scan at the end of this month or the beginning of September and we will have a better picture after that.
"From the human point of view, he is already close to 100%. Then he has to complete a physical recovery process. After that he will have to start again his physical preparation, because at the moment he cannot do anything (about improving his fitness).
"At the moment we are all happy he is recovering so quickly. We are pretty confident. For him and everyone it would be a dream if he could race in Brazil.
"But we know we have to face the reality and the reality is to take it step by step."
The driver market is wide open as F1 heads into its traditional 'silly season'.
BMW's decision to withdraw from F1 at the end of the season has put their two drivers Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld on the market.
Kubica, the more highly rated of the two, has been linked to a move to Williams in place of Rosberg on a one-year deal, but could also interest Brawn and Renault, who would need a top-liner to replace Alonso, assuming his move to Ferrari goes ahead.



By Adam Feneley
Motorsport Engineering
www.motorsportengineering.blogspot.com
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Schumacher abandons F1 comeback

Seven-time Formula 1 champion Michael Schumacher has abandoned his comeback with Ferrari because of a neck injury.
The 40-year-old, who retired at the end of 2006, was set to deputise for the injured Felipe Massa at the European Grand Prix in Valencia on 23 August.
"Unfortunately we did not manage to get a grip on the pain in the neck which occurred after the private F1-day in Mugello," Schumacher told his website.
Schumacher suffered the neck injury in a bike accident in February.
"The consequences of the injuries caused by the bike accident in February, fractures in the area of head and neck, unfortunately have turned out to be still too severe," he added.
"That is why my neck cannot stand the extreme stresses caused by F1 yet. These are the clear results of the examinations we did on the course of the past two weeks and the final examination on Monday afternoon.
"As there were no improvements after the day in Mugello, I decided at short notice on Sunday to do that thorough examination on Monday."
Schumacher won five championships with Ferrari and had been working as a consultant for the Italian team before his decision to come out of retirement to stand in for Massa.
The German, who claimed his other two drivers' crowns with Benetton, has entered 250 grands prix, winning a record 91 of them.
His return was eagerly anticipated but, despite trying everything 'medically or therapeutically' possible, he has had to admit defeat.
"I am disappointed to the core," he said. "I am awfully sorry for the guys of Ferrari and for all the fans which crossed fingers for me.
"I can only repeat that I tried everything that was within my power. All I can do now is to keep my fingers crossed for the whole team for the coming races."
Brazilian Massa is recovering from the serious head injuries suffered during qualifying for the Hungarian GP.
And, while the rest of the F1 drivers were enjoying their mid-season break, Schumacher had embarked on a rigorous training regime, resulting in him losing more than six pounds in weight before calling off his return.
"It's hugely disappointing," said David Croft, Radio 5 live's F1 commentator. "The F1 world was very much looking forward to seeing Michael Schumacher locking horns with Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button, Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso.
"But it's hardly surprising. The g-forces that your neck muscles particularly are exposed to in a modern-day F1 car can take their toll and give you severe punishment during the course of a race.
"If you are not 100% fit, there's no way you can think about driving one of these cars."


BBC
By Adam Feneley
Motorsport Engineering
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Brawn look to rescue their season

When the brains at Brawn Grand Prix return to their offices on Monday after a two-week mid-season break, top of their agenda will be how to stop the wheels falling off Jenson Button's championship charge.
The Englishman stormed into a seemingly unassailable lead in the title race following six wins in the first seven races of the season but since then the team have lost their way.
Button, who has not finished on the podium in the last three races, has seen his lead cut to 18.5 points by Red Bull's Mark Webber.
With seven races still to come, the prospect of finishing the 2009 season empty-handed is now a very real threat - as Button has said, if Webber keeps cutting into his advantage at this rate, he will have overtaken after another four races.
Brawn and Button have only 11 days to turn things around before first practice at the European Grand Prix in Valencia on 21 August sets in motion the final frantic push for the titles.
The Brawn car's incompatibility with race conditions in the last three races in Britain, Germany and Hungary has been at the heart of the team's fading fortunes.
In cooler weather, Brawn have struggled to heat up their tyres to the optimum working temperatures and even in Budapest, where the sun shone, the team say the tyres were still 20C lower than they needed them to be.
"We know the car is still quick," insisted Button's race engineer Andrew Shovlin. "We just need to work out why it has become so sensitive to conditions.
"At the moment there is such a small window where it is working really well and we can't cope with that. We need to fix it so it's quick on any track and in any temperature."
In Valencia, in theory, heat should not be an issue - although they said the same about Hungary before that race, too.
Even if the weather is hot in Spain, Brawn still need to understand how to eke out extra performance from the tyres.
But it is not only tyre performance that Brawn want to bring up to scratch, the car needs honing, too.
The team arrived in Hungary with a major upgrade, adding a new diffuser, rear wing and bodywork, but the expected step forward in performance failed to materialise, despite encouraging running during Friday practice.
Team principal Ross Brawn conceded after the race that the team needed to "unravel" the recent updates.
"But it's not as simple as going back to an old car specification," added Shovlin. "That's not the answer; it is something much more subtle than that.
"We may have done something to the car to make it more sensitive."
Now that the workforce has returned from the two-week factory shutdown agreed by all the teams, the process of sieving through just what has gone wrong can begin.
Even if an answer is found, putting the solution into practice is another matter.
"The problem this year is the budget," revealed Shovlin, hinting at an issue that has remained largely under wraps this season.
Despite leading the constructors' standings all season, Brawn have failed to attract a title sponsor.
The team's dalliance with Virgin boss Richard Branson has run its course, while other offers are understood to have been deemed unsuitable by the independent team.
Brawn emerged at the 11th hour last winter out of the ashes of the former Honda team, after the Japanese car giant quit F1 in December.
And while Brawn are understood to be fully funded to the end of this season, they have so far failed to secure a budget for 2010.
So they are having to use their available resources more judiciously than might be the case for big players such as McLaren or Ferrari, both of whom have made noticeable steps forward in performance in recent races.
The ban on in-season testing is also standing in the way of a quick fix to Brawn's problems. Just like everyone else, Brawn must cram up on the latest feedback on tyre performance and technical tweaks during race weekends.
All of this would not matter quite so much, of course, if Brawn still held their substantial early-season performance advantage over the rest of the grid.
As it is, their rivals have passed them on the track and are now eating into their championship lead.
Red Bull have captured three victories, with Webber emerging narrowly ahead of German rising star Sebastian Vettel as Button's closest challenger for the drivers' crown, and their car is expected to dominate at the Belgium GP at Spa-Francorchamps at the end of the month.
McLaren and world champion Lewis Hamilton returned to winning ways in Hungary and the team predict they will be on top form again around Valencia's street circuit.
Ferrari will also bring a potent threat to Spain in the shape of seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher, who is standing in for the injured Felipe Massa.
In one way, this could play into Button's hands - with a multitude of potential winners, it becomes harder for either Red Bull driver to amass the points they need to catch and pass him.
On the other hand, lots of fast cars means Button could be resigned to finishing at the bottom of the points positions - so if a Red Bull driver does score big, they could take a significant chunk out of his lead in one go.
Button knows that, in this case, attack is the best form of defence.
The 29-year-old has squeezed every drop of performance out of his car at virtually every race this season - despite his lowly finishes in the last three races.
He is now relying on the focused driving - no mistakes, no crashes, no settling for a finish - that propelled him into the lead in the first place to fend off those fighting to deny him a first world title.
"This opportunity is the best I have had in Formula 1 by far and I have to take it," he told BBC Sport.
"We have got to stay relaxed and make sure we get back to the front, which we will in Valencia.
"We can't just sit around and collect points; it is not enough.
"But we've been through more difficult times so we can solve these problems I'm sure."

By Adam Feneley
Motorsport Engineering
www.motorsportengineering.blogspot.com
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Beyonce to headline first F1 rocks gig

Beyonce and the Black Eyed Peas have been lined up to headline a gig in Singapore, which will coincide with the Grand Prix there next month.
The first F1 Rocks event, which also includes Simple Minds, ZZ Top and NERD, will span three days from 24 September.
Formula One chief Bernie Ecclestone said: "It's exciting. It's something we've been talking about doing for an awful long time."
Tickets for the show at Fort Canning Park go on sale on Wednesday.
Mr Ecclestone said Singapore "couldn't be a better place" to launch the event.
"They're well, well ahead of anyone else in the world in my opinion."
Talks are already taking place between gig organisers and global broadcasters as it is hoped the show will be transmitted in up to 188 countries.
The website said F1 Rocks will "fuse the world's most popular annual sporting series with the most iconic music stars to create an unrivalled experience for F1 and music fans alike".
The music acts are being booked by John Giddings, who resurrected the Isle Of Wight festival and now promotes the likes of Madonna and U2 for Live Nation.
Universal Music, Singapore Tourism Board and LG Electronics are also involved in the venture.



By Adam Feneley
Motorsport Engineering
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Teams block Schumacher testing

Red Bull and Toro Rosso have joined Williams in blocking Michael Schumacher's bid to test Ferrari's 2009 car ahead of his Formula 1 return.
Ferrari had written to the other nine teams and the sport's governing body, the FIA, asking for the German to be granted a day at the wheel of the F60.
But three teams insisted in-season circuit testing must remain strictly prohibited, as FIA rules dictate.
Schumacher will replace Felipe Massa at the European Grand Prix on 23 August.
The 40-year-old Schumacher, who is standing in after Massa was seriously injured at the Hungarian Grand Prix, began his preparations by driving a 2007 Ferrari at the team's Mugello test track on Friday.
But in-season testing with this season's cars is banned under current regulations.
Five members of the Formula One Teams' Association (Fota) - McLaren, Renault, Toyota, BMW Sauber and Brawn GP - were, given the circumstances, prepared to overlook that and give Schumacher and his Italian team the green light.
Ferrari have said the German, who won a record 91 grands prix in a 15-year career, will stand in for Massa until the Brazilian is fit enough to make a return after suffering a fractured skull in an accident during qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Williams say seven-time world champion Schumacher should not be given special dispensation, citing the recent arrival of 19-year-old rookie Jaime Alguersuari into F1 when he replaced Sebastien Bourdais for Toro Rosso.
"While we welcome Michael Schumacher back to F1, the fact is any form of in-season circuit testing is strictly prohibited, a regulation clearly laid out by the FIA and adhered to by all of the teams," said Williams in a statement.
"It was for this reason Alguersuari, who drove an F1 car for the first time in Hungary, did not have the opportunity to familiarise himself with the Toro Rosso before he made his race debut.
"Williams sees no distinction between Alguersuari's situation and Schumacher's and feels any deviation from the rule would create a precedent for the future."
Williams also pointed out that Ferrari chose Schumacher over current test drivers Luca Badoer and Marc Gene, who have both tested the team's 2009 model.
"In a similar situation, Williams would unhesitatingly use its current test driver," added Williams.
"For the sake of consistency and fairness, therefore, we oppose Ferrari's proposal to test ahead of the European Grand Prix."
But Mercedes motorsport boss Norbert Haug told autosport.com that his company would be happy to allow Michael Schumacher to test the 2009 Ferrari before his comeback, and that he hoped rival teams take the same stance.
"Whatever we can do to support him we will do," he said.
"I just think it is fair. This is an exception. If Michael had said he would come back under the condition that he could test, everybody would have said yes.
"His team-mate has thousands of kilometres in this car, and he has nothing. As we are fair players, why should he not get some testing? I would be very open to that."
Schumacher, who retired at the end of the 2006 season, had not driven an F1 car since April 2008 before he tested at Mugello on Friday.
"A great feeling to be back in an F1 car," he said afterwards. "After a few laps, I was able to drive constant times and I am quite happy with the time I did.
"Now, we will have to see how my body and my muscles will react to that day in the next (few) days."
On Thursday he spent a day at the Ferrari factory in Maranello, Italy, familiarising himself with the controls on the 2009 car's steering wheel in the team's simulator.
The car was fitted with slick tyres, which were reintroduced for this season and which Schumacher has not raced on since 1997.
Just before Massa flew home to Sao Paulo on Monday, after leaving the hospital that had treated him for the fractured skull he suffered on 25 July, the Brazilian said he hopes to recover quickly so he can return to racing.
Massa was hit on the head by a spring that had come off Rubens Barrichello's Brawn while he was travelling at more than 160mph during qualifying at the Hungaroring.
F1's governing body, the FIA, has launched an investigation into the accident.

BBC

By Adam Feneley
Motorsport Engineering
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Renault lodge appeal against Euro GP ban

Renault have lodged an appeal against the team's suspension from the European Grand Prix in Valencia.
The French team were punished after Fernando Alonso's right front wheel came off and bounced across the track at the Hungaroring on Sunday.
Race stewards ruled that the team's pit crew knew the wheel was not properly secured and failed to tell the driver.
The International Court of Appeal will hear the case on 17 August with a decision expected the following day.
Should the original decision stand, the ban would apply to the whole team and would deny Spaniard Alonso the chance to race in front of his home fans at the European Grand Prix on 23 August.
Having started on pole, the Spanish double world champion was leading the Hungarian Grand Prix when he came in for his first stop on lap 11.
However, he was released before the right front wheel had been fully attached and it worked its way loose on turn nine, bouncing alarmingly across the track.
The stewards said Renault's pit crew "knowingly released car number seven from the pit stop position without one of the retaining devices for the wheel-nuts being securely in position, this being an indication that the wheel itself may not have been properly secured."
They also determined that "being aware of this, Renault failed to take any action to prevent the car from leaving the pit lane... and failed to inform the driver of this problem or to advise him to take appropriate action given the circumstances, even though the driver contacted the team by radio believing he had a puncture."
The incident came amid heightened concern about safety in motorsport.
A week ago, 18-year-old Formula 2 driver Henry Surtees - the son of former F1 champion John Surtees - was killed when he was struck by a loose wheel during a race.
On Saturday, Ferrari driver Felipe Massa suffered a fractured skull when he was hit by a part which came off the Brawn GP car of Rubens Barrichello during qualifying at the Hungaroring.

BBC site
By Adam Feneley
Motorsport Engineering
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Massa looking for quick recovery

Felipe Massa hopes to recover quickly from the serious injuries he suffered in a qualifying crash at the Hungarian Grand Prix so he can return to racing.
The Brazilian, 28, flew home to Sao Paulo on Monday after leaving the hospital that had treated him for the fractured skull he suffered on 25 July.
"I'm very happy and in a good position to improve myself to eventually go back to the car, to drive," he said.
"We'll see how long this will take - but I hope it will be very quick."
While the Ferrari driver was expressing his determination and desire to get back to racing only nine days after the serious accident, he has also stressed that he will not return too soon.
"It is important to be fully recovered before returning to the track," he said in a statement.
The accident occurred after a spring from Rubens Barrichello's Brawn GP car hit Massa's helmet.
Massa was travelling at more than 160mph when the spring hit him, but pressure on the brakes reduced his speed to about 60mph when he hit the tyre wall.
He will now continue his rehabilitation in a Sao Paulo hospital for another two days upon his arrival in his home city.
After undergoing further tests he is then likely to be allowed to go home.
"I want to get better, get in better shape and be back in the car driving. That's my life, so that's the only thing I want to get back in my life at the moment," he added.
Talking about the incident, which happened during the second Saturday qualifying session, Massa said: "I don't remember anything.
"I just remember when I spoke to Rob Smedley, my race engineeer. He asked me: 'Do you remember Rubens in qualifying two?' I said: 'No. I don't remember my Q2. I remember being behind Rubens but then I don't remember anything else anymore.
"Maybe I was there, but I was not doing anything. So it was a very strange feeling. But that's my dream now.
"It's difficult to explain what happened. Everyone knows what happened, but for me it's a little bit more difficult to explain."
Massa's personal doctor Dino Altmann said on Monday: "He is to continue his recovery and return to racing as soon as possible, that's the plan. He is in a very good mood, good shape, and he just wants to come back soon."
Seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher has been brought out of F1 retirement by Ferrari to race in Massa's place and will have the first race of his comeback in the European Grand Prix in Valencia on 23 August.
The German, a team-mate of Massa during his final F1 season in 2006, will stand in until the Brazilian is ready to take up the seat again.
"I raced with Michael previously and he gave me a lot of good advice. Michael knows everything he needs to do," said Massa.
"I'm sure he will do very good job with my car. I'm not in a position to say something to him."


By Adam Feneley
Motorsport Engineering
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Future of F1sealed with new agreement signed

The future of Formula 1 has been secured after the sport's governing body and 12 teams put pen to paper on a new Concorde Agreement.
The agreement, which runs until the end of 2012, brings to a close months of wrangling between the FIA and the Formula 1 Teams' Association (Fota).
The FIA said the signing heralds "a renewed period of stability" for F1.
It added that the document features a "slightly revised set of stable sporting and technical regulations."
The lack of a new Concorde deal - the document that sets out how F1 is run and its revenues distributed - had been a key sticking point during disagreements between the FIA and Fota earlier this season.
However, the signing of the new agreement heralds a final resolution to the political rows that have destabilised the sport throughout 2009.
An FIA statement on Saturday read: "Following approval by the World Motor Sport Council (WMSC), late last night FIA President Max Mosley signed the 2009 Concorde Agreement, heralding a renewed period of stability for the FIA Formula One World Championship.
"The WMSC has also approved a slightly revised set of stable Sporting and Technical Regulations (to apply from the 2010 Championship onwards), which have been agreed by the FIA and the Teams and which will be published on the FIA's website.
"The new Concorde Agreement, which runs until 31 December 2012, provides for a continuation of the procedures in the 1998 Concorde Agreement, with decisions taken by working groups and commissions, upon which all teams have voting rights, before going to the WMSC for ratification.
The FIA statement also confirmed that a final agreement had been reached over the issue of cost-cutting along lines previously agreed.
"In addition, as agreed in Paris on 24 June 2009, the Teams have entered into a resource restriction agreement, which aims to return expenditure to the levels that prevailed in the early 1990s," read the statement.
BMW Sauber, who this week confirmed they would pull out of F1 at the end of the season, are the only current team to have not signed the document, with new grand prix teams USF1, Campos Meta and Manor GP all doing so.
It is understood BMW's bosses have until Wednesday 5 August to sign the document should they elect to stay in F1 in 2010 and beyond.
F1 was thrown into confusion in July when the eight teams in the rebel umbrella group Fota were told they were not entered in the 2010 championship.
This contradicted an announcement by the FIA's world council on 24 June which listed McLaren, Ferrari, Renault, BMW, Toyota, Brawn, Red Bull and Toro Rosso as confirmed entries after Max Mosley, president of F1's governing body the FIA, had reached a compromise deal with Fota chairman and Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo and F1 commercial boss Bernie Ecclestone.
As part of that agreement, the outline of next year's rules was set, the teams agreed to commit to F1 until 2012, Mosley's plan for a £40m budget cap was replaced with an agreement to reduce costs to "mid-1990s levels" by Fota's methods and the FIA president agreed not to stand again for the governing body's presidence in October's elections.


By Adam Feneley
Motorsport Engineering
www.motorsportengineering.blogspot.com
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