In a week of unexpected turnarounds it appears that Max Mosley and the Formula One Teams’ Association have now hugged it out: there will be no breakaway series.
But there will be no Mosley.
The FIA president stepped out of today’s World Motor Sport Council meeting in Paris and held an impromptu press conference with the world’s media.
“There will be no split. We have agreed to a reduction of costs,” he said.
“There will be one F1 championship but the objective is to get back to the spending levels of the early 90s within two years.”
Adding to his turnaround, Mosley also stated that he wouldn’t be standing for re-election when his presidency ends in October. Which is something of a surprise, after he said yesterday that he would be.
I’d be interested to know what changed his mind, but officially at least it’s this, as BBC Sport news correspondent James Munro commented from Paris:
“He [Mosley] said over the course of the negotiations he had been able to secure guarantees from the teams who were threatening to break away that they would try to reign back the levels of their spending.”
Guaranteeing that you’ll try something is not really any kind of guarantee at all – Ferrari will probably carry on spending like usual.
But at least we appear to be having F1 back with all the teams we love, and an end to Mosley’s reign – which was surely FOTA’s plan all along.
Everyone’s a winner. Aren’t they?
(The FIA have officially announced next year’s entry list also.
Do they mean early 90s levels in real terms, which is probably not too far removed from current spending.
Maybe they should try to break the spending down so that the teams are only given certain allowances for key parts of the development process. That’ll allow Ferrari to have their glitzy roadshow whilst still putting them on a technical development par with new teams. It’ll never be truly equal because of the resources already amassed by the big boys, but it’d be a start.
As for the comments I heard about established teams having to help new teams out.. hmm. Waiting for the interpretation of that one.
At last comon sense prevails, F1 wouldn’t be F1 without the major players, and a breakaway series just wouldn’t be the same without some of the old F1 tracks.
regarding the technical area i think they should free up the regulations and limits on the cars and let the engineers to be creative look at red bull and adrian this year with the pullrod suspension
when you look back at the 70’s with lotus they were never the biggest of teams yet collin chapman was very innovative with the desings of the cars and they won chamoionship loads of times
and in a way this could help the smaller teams etc
Actually, I’ve changed my mind. I will be staying.
noooooooooooo!,i want proper f1 back NOW!,FOR F##K’S SAKE,PLEASE,I HATE MOSLEY AND THE FIA,GET THEM OUT,NOOOOOOOOOOOOW!
Glad it’s all sorted finally, but it did make for good publicity. It’s a bit ridiculous that a president of any organisation can just keep standing term after term, 2 terms is definitely enough, the FIA should sort that out. So who will be next president, perhaps the “Loony” Flavio Briatore?!
Stig’s Irish Cousin, I heard tell that Mohamed Bin Sulayem, a UAE rally driver and star of Clarksons Motorworld in Dubai will be a possible candidate. Hes a multi zillionaire aleady and uses his family richness to do what he loves: drive very fast. thats the kind of guy we want.
no max mosley………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………. result
The biggest thing to a problem with F1 is the cars, bring in ground effect cars, with no downforce producing wings at all. Sub-2litre turbocharged (driver adjusted boost) engines burning whatever you please, (petrol, diesel, biofuel, avgas, jack daniels) and no refueling. Reduce distance/time to 150miles/90minutes.
(Anyone with any knowledge of engineering or aerodynamics feel free to point out the flaws in my otherwise perfect idea) ^_^
I doubt Mosley will stick to his words.
I wouldn’t be surprised to the least if i see him standing up to the president again in October.
Neither will I be surprised if the FOTA decide to throw another curve ball at F1 again over the next few days/weeks/months.
This will probably continue till the very end of this season. But everything will be fine by next season and we’ll have another F1 season as usual.
I AM SO GLAD THAT THE COOL TEAMS WILL BE IN F1 NEXTSEASON FERRARI ESPECIELY. ANYWAY NOW I CAN LOOK FORWARD TO F1 RACING INSTEAD OF POLITICS!!:)
I am not satisfied, not yet…
Where is ProDrive??? Why not ProDrive instead of teams with random names like Campos or Manor?? WHY???
Besides that, I’m happy…
I think, they’ve missed their chance. With F1 being F1, no one will be equal as Ferrari. I think, long term, they’ll regret it – the Dwarf is still there, the pointless circuits are still there, the circus moves on.
1990s? Omg. I would think cost levels in 2000 and 2001 were already very far away.
Good thing is Max is not going to be around anymore.
I really pity that the teams didn’t break away.
Teams should be free to spend what they want. So when they have to cut costs(like now) they can. Yea FOTA could have just put out a statement that costs have to come down period.
How tough is that? As tough as nazi german leather whips I’d say.
@Mark: i think there’s a series like that it’s called WRC. the green version that is.
Good luck USF1, Campos and Manor!
What the actual hell was this about if they where going to agree anyway.
Still f1 without mosley will be great. Should change rules to make cars look nice again
I was getting excited at the idea of FOTA forming their own series. But I’m happy they found a resolution. It’s not necessarily how much you spend but who you have on your team. Toyota spend like crazy and have been struggling for years. Honda had a large budget and look what happened to them until Ross Brawn came on board. To an extent there should be some lines drawn in keeping Formula One economically viable and attractive to new teams but at the same time a team should be able to dictate how much they can afford to cut back, not Max Mosley, because after all cutting costs cuts jobs. People with families who need to eat. If a team can afford to keep people on then it should be within there right to do so without being forced by another party. Not having to send a hundred workers home because Moron Mosley wants the team and factory to exists on $40million.
A limit on development should, in theory, bog down the richer teams and with the new teams getting technical assistance seems like a pretty good deal for them.
I knew Max had to bugger off, he’s made such a meal of the sport that the only way I could see F1 getting back to normal was with Max being handed his walking papers. I will give it to Mosley for what he did for the sport in terms of safety but now he’s old, corrupted and foolish and it’s well past time that moron gets the ol’ heave-ho.
Now all we need to do is set our sights on that greedy hobbit Bernie.
BUGGER
more wings, more turbulance, more flappy bloody paddles and more EFIN ECO CRAP!
that does it
im going to get my scalextric out and race my model lotus 49’s!
modern fomrula one sucks, i was really hoping a breakaway would bring abck the old norschelife, the cigar shape car, manual gearboxes and ciggy liveries (gorgeous) bloody c21.
This is Mosley remember..and October is over 3 months away..that’s 3 months for him to change his mind again when he gets his nose out of joint over something.I’ll wait until October arrives (or Ferrari win a race
) before I break out the champagne.
Thank goodness for the prevailence of common sense! Hopefully this season is done with politics now, we’ve had enough for 3 seasons already.
So glad that all the current teams are in, let’s just wait for the calendar, I heard that Spa isn’t on the provisional?
i dont know if im happy about this there were good points and bad points to what was a possible breakaway but F1 moves on and lives for another day hopefully mosely will stick to his word and leave
Small teams will always be there, you have it in all sports, the best, the second best and the supporting teams, but do not forget that small teams were ´´ Williams, Toleman, Lotus, Benetton, Minardi and so on, all in one way or other contributed immensely to F1 through the years.
Motoracing is and will always be an expensive sport,in the 30s and 50s all drivers with very small exemptions were very rich people that they could choose at any given time to buy their drive in the best car of the day, see Juan Manuel Fangio, with the money from the Argentinia governament he jumped from one maker to another and in the process he won 5 titles in 4 different makers. Ferrari was not the most rich maker in the 50s, Alfa and Mercedes were, same was for Maserati and Lancia not to mention Cooper, what a team!!!
thank you all my work. i am amazin
I should have stood down years ago now i can get back to my hookers.
If anyone remembers, back in 2004, Mosley stated he wouldn’t be running for election again, then changed his mind. What if this is the same? Just saying…
And to continue if I may, what about Lotus? They were not the new billionaires, and Brabham, Surtees, Tyrrell, MaClaren and we can go on for quite a long time. Small teams will be needed and if possible helped because we cannot know who will be the next Newey or the next Schumacher.
So now that the BAD GUY is out, you GOOD GUYS, pool your finger out ( Sorry ) and give us,the public that pay for your effort to come up with real racing and emotions.
Thank you.
Vittorio Orsi
Lets get down to a good old fashion fight for the finish. Like it used to be. It’s been getting so boring, knowing who is going to win, before they have even gotten off pole !
I hope it does move to Donnington, it’s only down the road from me.
Excellent. Now lets get Silverstone back
That was far too easy.
I hoped FOTA would be stronger.
Why do you hope fota would be stronger? They won, they got everything they had an issue with. They WERE strong. And from here on they’ll probably be a bit more in control and have a say in rules etc.
When I red the title I thought ”Wooow, what a suprise!!! NOT!”
i still hope for a break away series… simply because there would be less rules, less rule changes and more development of cars, aerodynamically, mechanically and electronically, not to mention different development of materials, gasses (think Ferrari’s idea to fill their tiers with other gasses than air) positioning of specific parts to better weight distribution and center of mass ect.
but i will settle for a Maxless F1…
Wow… at least this is starting to get better. I would have supported a FOTA breakaway, although it would have been upsetting to see the name ‘Formula One’ go under… which without the big teams it inevitably would sooner or later.
I’m beginning to feel confident that everything will go okay, but after what’s happened over the last month the negotiations are probably far from over…
They should be given £50 and prize money off all the teams spending combined as prize money . . . Then well see some seroius racing !!!
The biggest way I can think of for established teams to help new entrants (if the engines are different) is wind tunnel time – a huge saving in infrastructure setup costs. Pity customer cars dropped off the agenda way back – that was always an Indycar strength.
Let’s remember Mosley has pushed through really good reforms to F1 over the years, and he’s done so with an understanding of the sport and the areas to focus on for technical changes. And through this current mess, he’s tried to make it viable for new teams to enter the sport – which is vital protection against the risk of manufacturer withdrawals. It’s been more the way in which the changes were forced through (but was there any other way?) that seems to have been the problem – and that’s a long-standing FIA problem (the end of Group B rally cars comes to mind). Companies making huge investments in F1 need a level of governance consistent with good corporate management, – they have to account to their boards and shareholders on that basis! – but the FIA seems to have understood the sport better than corporate requirements (understandably, perhaps). The companies took Ecclestone to task a few years back to gain a sound, commercial level of governance and now they’ve required the same of the FIA. I think this is a really positive step forward all round.
I will always root for Ferrari but since i live in the US I gotta root for USF1.
I kinda felt it wouldn’t happen, that it was all mild speculative threats., so now back to the main business a usual.
F1 is saved!
Next year, I want the new teams to be crushed by the current ones hahahaha!
Its putting a smile on my face, Max had to back down anyway, he enforced so many rule changes,(which had cost the teams dearly)and now he had to assure he steps down, AND prolonging the transition to the new Budget cap. Its a full-on win for FOTA, and the sport, if MadMax is finally gone.How could FOTA achieve this? they held together, and made a clear announcement,that they were prepared for the worst case scenario. Well done.Now please, let the Next F-1 Headlines have something to do with the races. I am getting bored with politics easily
good for them not to go apart hope to be same old f1
I hope that FOTA has Max’promises in writing, I do not trust that man, what if he changes his mind and stays? By the way why do not they change the rule at FIA 2 terms in office and then out,make place for new ideas etc., no normal democratic body let’s the president stay that long, except for Venezuela and other banana republics.
All is good and well. Budget capping has gone to dust, so question is whether the new teams will now stay with their new F1 commitment? Remember, they did after all enter the sport on the premise of a budget cap…
Regarding the ”existing teams will help the new teams”: how exactly? Are they finally coming round and allowing new teams to make use of any existing teams chassis? Something like a customer car type arrangement, but only at cost value so there’s no profit making by the big teams from the new teams? I fear I see many more rounds of negotiations coming along!
I presume also the row about some teams being owed money from years ago has also been solved? In other words Bernie got made to pay up or lose out altogether? Nothing like a bit of money to make negotiations go as planned.
Will be interesting to see what happens in the future with the FOTA and ‘the rest’, especially the ‘deserters’ Williams and Force India. Will we see the new teams start a FOTA for small teams?
And what with that ominous statement about plans for new rules regarding engines? I’m really worried about this! The current engine regs were always meant to be temporary stop gaps until new regs were agreed to. Personally I find it ridiculous that F1 is moving towards a future where engines are so tightly regulated as there to be hardly any difference between them. The massive costs of manufacturer teams used to be as a result of massive engine development budgets. Now that money is simply being spent on aerodynamic development.
A solution must be found! Somehow we need real innovation and engineering genius to return to F1 in engines, aerodynamics and chassis construction. In fact I think we should have a public vote and make Ross Brawn the new FIA President? How about that? Just for a few years to bring F1 back on track?
Hey, Cosworth’s back! Excellent!
One problem still exist through, Bernie is still around, which means great venues would continue to go bankrupt thanks to him…
I think us viewers should set up a trap for bernie. tell him that there is a new track waiting to be reaped of its fortunes and as he goes over there to stomp all over them we gag him and roll him down au rouge repeatedly.
Someone should cap Bernie’s revenues, very true. He’s quite rich enough by now.
But really, as long as team budgets are stated in US-dollars, they’ll be okay. Numbers may rise, but net worth declines by the hour. A nice way to cut costs.
Hope the new rules will show a Q3 on low fuel, skip of the kers system (already decided?) and normal proportioned wings. Also hope Bernie will respect the old venues, stay on Silverstone and go back to Montreal and Imola! And what is wrong with Paul Ricard for the French GP?
i want da FOTA series. the tracks were better, the prices were cheaper and new rules would help mclaren and ferrari be fast again
Mark, only one flaw in your idea. It’s not F1. Where do you get the screaming, earsplitting noise from your sub 2 litre turbo engine? How do you expect drivers to cope with the incredible g gorces created by ground effect? I could go on.I trust you were only joking…
It all seems a bit vague.
There are no gaurantees.
All sides will “try”? What does that mean?
Max was going anyway (until he changed his mind the day before).
Cop out, forced by Bernie maybe?
surely f1 is allabout progress, the cars are meant to gt faster the g-force is meant top get higher the action is meant to get more intense. so why do the cars look like they did in the 90’s and why is the FIA wanting to place a budget that has the same spending as the 90’s.
Instead of going back to the 90’s why dont we look forwards towards the 2010’s.
i want to see progress in f1 and i reckon that there will be a lot more people the same as me.
BACKTRACK ALERT:
Max says he is keeping his “options open”.
yipeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!
What Do I Think? Do I Support a breakaway series?
No, I do not. Having a breakaway series would threaten Melbourne getting the grand prix or FOTA. The Grand Prix in Melbourne is a yearly tradition that I always go to. With no tournament in Melbourne at all, well let’s just say I wouldn’t be too happy. Yes FOTA cars will be faster, better and stronger but they still shouldn’t ruin the entire Formula One series. I think that the Formula One should raise the budget cap to make everyone happy.