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8 Jul 2009

New Fota row threatens future of F1.. Again!




The eight members of the Formula 1 Teams Association (Fota) walked out of a meeting with the sport's governing body, the FIA, on Wednesday.
The meeting, at Germany's Nurburgring, was held to discuss next year's rules and Fota's proposed changes to them.
But the Fota teams left when told they had not entered the 2010 championship and therefore had no voting rights on technical and sporting regulations.
A Fota statement said the row "puts the future of Formula 1 in jeopardy".
It is the latest incident in a bitter, long-running argument between Fota and the FIA over planned budgetary and technical changes which has threatened to tear the sport apart.
The eight Fota teams - Ferrari, McLaren, BMW Sauber, Renault, Toyota, Red Bull Racing, Toro Rosso and Brawn GP - insist they have entered the 2010 championship.
"It will be remembered 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 24 June," said Fota.
The association added that because it was now being claimed they had not entered, they had "requested a postponement of today's meetings".
Fota continued: "This was rejected on the grounds no new Concorde Agreement would be permitted before a unanimous approval of the 2010 regulations was achieved.
"However, 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 World Motor Sport Council 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.
"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 Fota members undertook the Paris agreement and the subsequent discussions in good faith and with a desire to engage with all new and existing teams on the future of Formula 1."
The FIA insisted in a statement of its own that it had wanted to discuss proposals for 2010.
The FIA added: "Unfortunately, no discussion was possible because Fota walked out of the meeting."
The long-running row between Fota and the FIA appeared to have been resolved in June, when an agreement was reached between F1's governing body and the Fota teams to prevent a breakaway series.
Under the terms of that deal a proposed budget cap was postponed and the teams won significant concessions on rule changes and the governance of the sport, while Max Mosley agreed not to stand for re-election as president of the FIA.
Wednesday's truncated meeting was attended by Williams and Force India, who are suspended from Fota after applying for unconditional entries to race in 2010 at the height of the budget cap crisis.
Formula 1's three new teams, Campos Grand Prix, Manor and US F1, also attended the meeting at the Nurburgring ahead of Sunday's German Grand Prix.

BBC website

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