Oliver WhiteSpeaking to Swiss publication Motorsport Aktuell, FIA president Max Mosley has hinted that the FIA are not about to bow in to the conditions placed on the entries of the nine teams currently making up the Formula One Teams Association. Back in late May, the FOTA-9 submitted their entries, but demanded that the 2010 rules be based on the 2009 set, and that their entries be accepted in whole.
The FIA don’t usually give in to demands very easily though, and the eerie silence from the sport’s governing body since the entries were submitted has been deafening. It is known that the FIA want to introduce a budget cap from next year onwards, but most of the teams are unhappy about how this was introduced, and the fact that the proposed budget is huge step down from what the squads are currently spending each year. The FOTA-9 also want the Concorde Agreement agreed and signed by June 12th.
It has been suggested by many that the FOTA-9’s conditions that were sent in along with their entry forms is actually against the rules itself and therefore invalid. Therefore, while the current crop of teams (Williams aside) feel that they are doing the right thing by pressuring the FIA, it could still backfire.
Max Mosley has suggested that getting a Concorde Agreement put together in the next week is nigh-on impossible, and that the FIA lay out the rules for the Formula One championship, and if the teams want to create the rules, then may be they should set up their own series.
A Concorde Agreement which one receives so late can’t be signed by June 12.
We now have a conflict and we will see who succeeds in the end. I say to them: If you want to draw up your own rules, then you can organise your own championship. But we have the Formula 1 championship.
We draw up the rules for that. We have been doing that for 60 years and we will continue doing so. Max Mosley
Mosley’s words suggest that the FIA are not willing to back down over their proposed introduction of a budget cap, and that the nine entrance forms submitted by Ferrari, BMW, McLaren, Toyota, Renault, Brawn, Red Bull Racing, Scuderia Toro Rosso and Force India are in fact invalid. If these teams are not allowed to partake in the 2010 championship, then the series would be rocked.
Should the FIA disallow the FOTA-9, it would be expected for Brawn and Force India (and possibly McLaren) to bow in to the FIA’s rules and re-submit. There is a clause in the rules that allows teams to submit an entry after the deadline, and should this happen, it is likely they would be let in. However, whether or not there will be space for them is another matter entirely.
At the time of writing, 10 new teams have apparently submitted entry. Currently, it has been reported that USF1, Prodrive, Litespeed, Brabham, Campos, Superfund, N.Technology, Epsilon Euskadi, March and Lola have all applied for the 2010 championship. Add in Williams who broke ranks with FOTA and submitted under the proposed rules of 2010, means there are just 2 places left.
The FIA do not have to accept any entry, and need to consider the finances and organisation of each entry to assess their ability to race in Formula One for many years. Some of the new entries are likely to be disappointed and not allowed in, which would free up some places, but given that the FIA are in strong disagreement with FOTA, it seems unlikely that any critic of the FIA will be allowed in, despite how potentially damaging to the sport that may be.
Of course, come June 12th we could all be reading how the FOTA-9 are in, along with Williams and few new squads to bolster the numbers. At the current time, we simply do not know. Either way, I think next Friday is going to be very, very interesting.
What does FIA (Max) want exactly? The budget cap plans were made to prevent teams from leaving F1 and now when the teams have committed to take part up to 2012, the FIA doesn’t care!
I really can’t believe this anymore… Max has gone whack-a-doodle for a long time, that’s for sure, but what about everybody else? Can’t the FIA overthrown him? Can’t the FOTA issue a vote of no confidence? Can’t they uprise somehow?
Yeah, that’s a strategy that worked well for CART and the IRL. I wonder if the NASCAR bosses are sitting in their offices in Daytona Beach, Florida, and drawing up plans for a Eurasian NASCAR league to destroy open wheel racing everywhere!
I’m just glad I went to Monaco this year to see the GP. Lord knows what next year will bring.
Max needs to go. I really think that one of the things FOTA is discussing behind closed doors is a unified backing of a good candidate for the October election. Speaking of which, I’m surprised none of the big F1 bloggers out there has ranted on about the need for a new president. Sure, it’s come up a few times, but so far the story has been all about the row rather than the person who’s caused it. Max is a senile egomaniac who’s too blind to see that dictatorships will always, always crash and burn. Seriously, I just want to smack him across the face.
Also, I read somewhere that the FIA are actually not a rule making body; they’re just there to execute and enforce them. It is the teams that make the rules. The only reason Max has been making the rules so far is because the teams have let him. Can anyone lend any credence to this?
Explosiva, I for one and Clive at F1 Insight for another came to the conclusion that Max needed to go a long time ago. As such, that attitude tends to be an undercurrent in our writings rather than an out-and-out posting. My most recent item along those lines was the “Max and a Toaster” cartoon and Clive’s is the article “A Civilised Suspension”.
There is a Twitter campaign going on to oust Max, but the biggest hope is Nick Craw. A non-controversial, conservative senior FIA member from the touring side of American motoring, he looks like he could be a genuine alternative in the November FIA presidential elections. This may be part of the reason Max has started making masses of mistakes in many areas of motorsport.
Pitpass report that the EU declared in 2000 that the FIA was not empowered to write regulations, only enforce them. The F1 Commission is supposed to write regulations, but that hasn’t met since Imola 2003. So technically speaking, every rule change since then is illegal. The FIA vigourously disputes this.
As for the narrower topic, Max Mosley has made a move that is both brilliant and idiotic in one.
It’s brilliant because it completely secures his power base, subject to the courts; with 12 new entries existing and rumours (albeit unreliable and officially-rubbished ones) that Force India may have sent in a unilateral unconditional entry means that Max either has a full grid without the FOTA Eight or is going to believe he can wear FOTA down enough to get a full grid. Either way, he’s proven he’s more powerful than all the teams combined, quelling any future rebellion in one move.
It’s idiotic because the new F1 will only have two established teams – the rest will all be rookies in the world of constructordom even if some are using their junior series teams and/or names from the past to assist their efforts. This isn’t what F1 viewers intended to watch, otherwise there are any number of series that would be more popular than they actually are. This will weaken Max’s power the moment the FIA realise the nature of the entry list for June 12. Combined with other problems in other series, I can see this being a deal-breaker for another term in office.
So Max’s behaviour will give him total power… …for about five months. I project that the price for him will be no power at all thereafter. What, I wonder, will be the price for us?