It feels like a long time since Silverstone, and I can’t wait for practice to get going tomorrow for the German Grand Prix. But it looks like we have to deal with more politicking before that can happen. Groan.
It’s generally not good editorial practice to print press releases, but I’m going to lean on FOTA’s latest as it does a good job of explaining the teams’ position in yesterday’s head-to-head with the FIA.
The background is that all the FOTA teams, the non-FOTA teams Williams and Force India, plus the three new teams Manor, USF1 and Campos Meta, all met yesterday to discuss the 2010 technical rules.
Only it didn’t go so well, and FOTA walked out.
Here are the reasons why:
‘Representatives of all FOTA teams attended a meeting of the Sporting Working Group at the Nürburgring today.
‘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.
‘It will be remembered 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.
‘However, it is clear to the FOTA teams that the basis of the 2010 technical and sporting regulations was already established in Paris [the FIA’s HQ].
‘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. To subsequently go against the will of the WMSC and the detail of the Paris agreement puts the future of Formula 1 in jeopardy.’
So what’s FIA president Max Mosley playing at this time? And do you care?
F1 is getting more and more a bad Daily Soap.
I´m so sick of it. FIA said this, FOTA did that.
They want it that way, we gonna have it this way.
I JUST WANT TO SEE RACING
Now we get the 2010 rules set up by Williams, Force India, and the new Teams. Oh, that will help to get more viewers.
Yeah! First comment! Please guys leave fights out of the sport. All you do is destroying it with all that behind the scenes fighting.
Well not first comment sorry.
I can’t believe they are squablling again, oh wait… I can actually
Could I go there and mediate for them, with a big bit of wood with “Stop behaving like children” writen on it? Anyone who said anything along the lines of “but he said…” would (wood!) be educated.
Seriously though, very long time F1 fan, and leaning towards FOTA as a rule, but generally p***ed of with the lot of them.
They are all just damaging their own livelihood aren’t they?
Muppets…..
Don’t you just want to bang their heads together?
I vote to take all the poilitics out of F1 by removing the Top Management of the FIA, FOTA and all whatever is left and replace it with the Top Gear management. Jeremy, Richard and James in place of Max and Andy wilman in place of Bernie..now that would be good
Un F****** believable. Face up to the reality, that the FIA want control of F1, and require smaller less influential teams to do it, and that FOTA want to start their own series, and will do anything to break from F1. It seems they both shot themselves in the foot by agreeing these terms, and now both sides are looking for a way out.
In my opinion FIA is to blame. In the past Bernie good bring the teams and the FIA together but he also seemed to have lost the plot. Time for a change.
Vatanen as FIA boss for a culture change and common sense. Briatore for Bernie the keep F1 glamarous and straight. First change for 2010 is to bring back the wings in shape because the 09 cars are damn ugly!
What’s new? Max going back on his word, peace in our time? Let’s just race and leave politics where it belongs, not in sports. FOTA take some good well meant advice from a fan: start your own series and leave Max and Bernie with the ruin they created, 5 teams on the grid and FOTA with the really interesting ones, and the good circuits like Spa and Silverstone, Max and Bernie you go to Turkey and Valencia.
Can’t stand FOTA!!
Am I the only one having fun with this?
Bernie, should we bring Stalin to run this thing?
Guys can we just leave the racing to the teams and the politics to the government, oh, hang on, that wont work.
Just get racing! Race! Do it! Stop talking!
I’ve had an idea! If the FOTA teams don’t score at least 50 points each, then they’re out
This is taking the michael now, well actually was a few weeks back, but this just keeps getting worse and worse.
All this he said, she said bull is driving me and all the F1 fans i know mad.
This is the most childish arguing in professional sport i have ever seen, soon the FIA will pick up their jumpers and move them closer together, then the FOTA will pick up the ball and go home crying!!!!
PLEASE CAN WE JUST WATCH SOME RACING WITHOUT POLITICS!
Politics are everywhere these days and we’ve heard it most in F1. The FOTA just want to change and manipulate F1, the fans are tired of all this b******t and the FIA are stuck in the middle of this ‘argument’.
All this is doing though is ruining the sport in many ways: It gives it a bad reputation, it annoys fans to the extent that they’re no longer a fan and it all seems like the sport is just a huge political argument, and that would be the final nail in the coffin.
What is FIAs problem? do they want 8 of their 12 teams to be unhappy with the regulations with which they are racing with? Why not just let them choose rather than making such a big fuss.
FOTA will get there way in the end, i just dont understand why the FIA have to be such tight asses?
This about mosely getting his own back on FOTA for calling him a dictator and that he had to take a back seat in F1 now.
Alot of this is about ego’s, etc.
Its beginning to drive people away from F1, FOTA and the FIA are 2 school boys in play ground trying to make their own patch, Grow up the lot of you and lets get back to racing
i am really starting to get so fed up with all of this i thought the problem was sorted so here is an idea for the FIA get rid of all the rules except the the ones about safty and bring back turbos the it wiil be like the 1970s/80s
sorry about the typo it is safety not safty
What? Think max isn’t happy at not being able to restand. Think the teams should all walk away and set up their own series, I would follow ferrari to which ever formula they raced in, I have been a massive fan of f1 since I was 6/7, the last few years all they’ve done is mess with it, there’s been no consitancy, to rules, regs, qualifing, racing and far to many grey area’s(cheating). It’s not so much fun as it used to be, and by that I don’t mean ferrari winning, I supported them before schumi joined.
Maybe slayer has a good idear, the tg 3 and co (Wilman ect) should run the show, common sense would prevale. Top gear races are always enjoyable to watch, Jezza could have his cotswould screw driver ready to help mend the cars.
You mostly read about F1 in the papers due to it’s politcs rather than the racing thease days. F1 could do with a driver in the mould of eddie irvine he always came out with a good comment or to.
I don’t care anymore. Pay whatever you want for a car. Just shut the f*ck up and race.
OK! THATS IT THE FIA AND FOTA HAVE REALLY PISSED ME OFF! ENOUGH OF THIS WHINY POLITICAN SHIT AND GET THE HELL BACK TO RACING! MAX MOSELY SHOULD JUST HIS ASS KICKED TO THE CURB!!!!!!!!!!!!
Max Mosley will NOT go quietly, its just not in his
Genes to do so, also he will want to dictate as much as he can before he goes(if he goes) so the FIA will be his whatever. I don’t think Bernie has the umph to stand up to him. Mosley will want to leave FIA with everything going the same old way.
The TG4 will be better at running it, but there is only Jezza who watches F1 regularly from whats been said previously,Time will tell, but Mosley must realise he’s playing with fire.
I hpoe FOTA keep to their stance though and not give in to Mosley.
Looking forward to the Race though, may be rather damp!!!!
Let the 8 teams just walk out and let the F1 series die. So what if it does? Heritage? Prestiege? BS! Stop wasting fan viewing time with this uncertainty.
This will ruin the future of F1. Sponsors will think twice before they deside to invest in this game for next year and after.
What we are seeing is the slow death of the sport we love. All thanks to two guys who stayed in to long.
Good lesson, go for retirement before you grow to old and become a nasty old fool with idiotic ideas and strange views.
TG just save all your money, and just buy F1. Please!
F1 needs to look at other sports.
Negotiations take place behind the scenes.
Decisions are made public only when they are final.
This prevents fans being confused/let down/p155ed off with the sport.
The good thing is they are still racing.
OK, I think this is a stupid argument. I’m anyway going to watch the FOTA teams because they’re worth it.. I mean, Williams, Force India, and other unknown teams are going to be complete rubbish. what does the FIA want, to ruin themselves? All I hope is that they don’t ruin the sport. I don’t care what comes out of the f***ing argument, I just want to watch F1
Well ,would you sign a contract, that will be changed 2 weeks after you signed? i guess not. But thats exactly, what FIA expects FOTA to do. First,let the teams subscribe to race next season, then change the rules for 2010,and write off the veto right for the teams.The FIA should start behaving like an employer, and stop behaving like a pi§§ed Slave owner.If i were the head of FOTA, i would have cancelled season 2010 2 weeks ago.And would be negotiating with track owners worldwide by now.
Seriously, I am so tired of all this bulls&%$t !! I think FIA + Bernie + FOTA + New Teams need to be put in their place by those who actually have this power: The FANS.
How about all of us do a 1 race boycott (that will be more than enough) for starters : no one goes to see the race and no one watches it.
Let them lose millions and billions in just 1 weekend and then we’ll see if they will continue with all this nonsense. They should all understand that F1 is not theirs. It is ours. Without the fans all of them (FOTA, FIA, Bernie) will go out of business in 5 weeks flat.
Considering the behavior of the FIA over the last few seasons this escalation is no big surprise. The 09 rulechanges (biggest mistake ever) made FOTA go wild because suddenly all teams are victim and not only McLaren. The FIA should be ashamed.
Yeah, Mosley has been acting like a 5 year old who didn’t get what he wanted for christmas. But to be perfectly honest, mister Ferrari hasn’t really been much better. When Mosley said he wouldn’t run for another period as president of FIA come the october election, Montezemolo clearly couldn’t or wouldn’t hold back on showing his joy, and called Mosley a dictator. Another 5 year old who in the past years haven’t been getting what he wanted for christmas.
My idea would be to get rid of Mosley, Ecclestone and Montezemolo as FOTA boss. He can be leader for Ferrari, I don’t care, but you have to have a man with more common sense than him leading FOTA.
And by the way. I’ve been a fan of the pirat league for a while, but there is a catch to it, if it’s gonna happen. In football (soccer) there is 1 world cup for nations. The F1 world championship is the motorsports equal to that. In boxing you can have several world champions in the same weight class but for different associations at the same time. In my opinion there can be only one world champion, not several, and it would be really sad to see that happen to F1, even tho that’s what it might be like if we get the pirat league.
With regards to the 09 regulations… They aren’t all bad. I’m a McLaren fan, and hell we aren’t doing well, at all. The regulations for this season has meant more excitement in most of the races, ferrari and mclaren can only blame themselves for only focusing on last years championship. Which reminds me that Montezemolo also whined about that when Ferrari hadn’t picked up any points at all from the first 4 races. You cannot have a man made of excuses and drama lead 8 teams. Sorry, but you need a cold-headed, calculating guy, not some bloke caring more about his makeup on national tv than the situation in the sport he is such a big part of.
That being said, I’m happy Ferrari has gotten going. Even tho I always hope they break down, it’s good for the sport, as it adds a bit more pressure on Brawn GP. I’m hoping it won’t be another Schumi season, so Red Bull please do drive more like you did on Silverstone.
And Lewis, crack the whip over those engineers, we need McLaren back up where it belongs. On top of the grid.
I just want to go back to racing for a minute and remind everyone of Toyota’s launch video for the TF1-09. “It’s time…to win”. Well now its midseason and i dont think they have come close to winning this season, their highlight is one pole position. It makes me laugh.
maybe if the fota teams agree to send 3 ladies to max’s home every night he will shut up.
on a serious note, keep safety & lose all the other rubbish rules. lotus won by not spending much at all, so let the flipping teams decide how much they want to spend.
@Thomas(33): the 09(no testing during race season) rules,are, what makes this season so boring.Brawn had plenty of time to test their cars last year,and all the other teams had the disadvantage, to actually concentrate on racing.Brawn is in the lead now, and there s only a 1%chance, they won t become champions this year, because nobody can test new stuff on the car. Even the big players won t know, if their tweaks actually work as planned,or not,and the only time they can test are the two days of testing before the qualifying.The tracks are very different, so, what might work on 1 track might hinder performance on another.The fine-tuning will just be a hit-or-miss job.Also, if every team gains a second with its tweaks, the outcome at the end of the season will still be the same.
Rules should be rules, but if changed seasonally, they re just exceptions.If,(as an example)a driver would get a point for each car overtaken, that is in front of him at the start,or lapping a car, this season could look much more exciting during a race,(the first one still wins, but he could be challenged pointwise by someone of the midfield) that d be interesting to watch, and opens way for whole new strategies.(since there will be no refuelling in 2010, there s no sneaking past,just because somebody fills his tank to the brim. They ll all have about the same chance to overtake, because everybody needs about the same time in the pit lane.(everybody has to use two sets of tires anyway)
I never thought I’d say this but I’m am totally sick of Formula 1 and I have been avid fan for about 32 years now. All this politics is utter garbage, Ecclestone and Mosley should go, they’re destroying the sport now – it’s a total farce, every year the rules are different.
Formula 1 is fixable.
1). Get rid of the board under the car and let it run as low as they used to, with sparks flying from the rear!
2). Allow the engineers run as much downforce as the car can, this gives the drivers confidence in ovetaking.
3), Scrap the Blue Flag – These are supposedly the best drivers in the world, surely they can handle getting around a back marker (More Overtaking).
4). Stop trying to make the cars SLOWER, this is a race it’s supposed to be about SPEED!
5). Get rid of the old men ruining Formula 1, they’ve forgotten what it used to be.
Watch the BTCC races on ITV – 7 hours of racing in one day. Now that’s worth watching.
all the fighting started becouse max wanted the teams to save money why does he not just get them to sign a contract sating they will stay in the sport for example 5 years
SOmeone touched upon a good point up above, “The TG4 will be better at running it.” Up until now we have seen Top Gear prove they can build a road faster, do radio news “better”, and work as farmers… “better” farmers.
Each time these segments of the show demonstrated that certain things are difficult to do.
I think the resolution of the row between the FOTA and FIA is a difficult process, especially as these are two deers clashing antlers for the heart of a doe… the viewers that is.
So why not do a segment showing just how difficult it is for the dispute to be resolved.
Who would be the guys represent?
Well Jeremy would represent the fans.
Richard the FOTA
James the FIA
I certainly think it would be enjoyable.
its time the teams ran F1, the FIA is a waste of space and is unnecessary, You want cost savings, get rid of them (FIA).
This is just another thing that says FOTA needs to form its own series
and to top this off, just learned there wont be refueling next year, when I first heard this I thought it was a joke, but WTF people, I mean come on, refueling is a huge part of the sport.
I HATE THE BUDGET CAP! I DON’T GIVE A $*#@ IF MANOR, CAMPOS, OR USF1 TEAMS COMPETE NEXT YEAR! I WANT TO WATCH FERRARI AND MCLAREN COMPETING NEXT YEAR IN THE SAME TYPE OF CAR. NOT IN ANOTHER SERIES IN THE SAME RACE. AND IF THAT HAPPENS, IT WILL BE THE SAME SITUATION AS THE IRL/CART SPLIT IN THE USA. AND CART LOST.. AND IF THAT HAPPENS NEXT YEAR, THE FIA WILL LOSE AND FOTA WILL WIN. AND F1 IS GONE FOR GOOD.