MOTOR SPORT FORMULA ONE ROW: FORMULA ONE'S governing body, the FIA, yesterday said it will take immediate legal action to stop eight rebel Formula One teams forming a breakaway series after the Formula One Teams' Association announced early yesterday morning it would not meet FIA president's Max Mosley deadline for submitting unconditional entries for the 2010 season and would instead look to set up its own rival championship.
As the row over the controversial proposed €47million budget cap deepened in recent weeks Mosley had offered the olive branch of further discussions, but only if the teams would submit entries for 2010 without the conditions they had included in their original entries submitted some weeks ago.
However, yesterday morning FOTA, made up of Ferrari, McLaren, Toyota, Red Bull Racing, Scuderia Toro Rosso, Renault, Brawn GP and McLaren Mercedes, insisted its member would not submit entries, saying: “the teams cannot continue to compromise on the fundamental values of the sport and have declined to alter their original conditional entries to the 2010 World Championship.
“These teams therefore have no alternative other than to commence the preparation for a new championship which reflects the values of its participants and partners.”
The FIA immediately responded by insisting the deadline would stand and in the event of the team’s failure to meet it a new entry list would be published.
“The FIA is disappointed but not surprised by FOTA’s inability to reach a compromise in the best interest of the sport,” the statement read. “The FIA cannot permit a financial arms race in the Championship nor can the FIA allow FOTA to dictate the rules of Formula One. The 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship entry list will be announced tomorrow.”
That threat of a new entry list was, however, later superseded by a further statement from the governing body, declaring that legal proceedings against the rebel teams were being prepared.
“The actions of FOTA as a whole, and Ferrari in particular, amount to serious violations of law, including wilful interference with contractual relations, direct breaches of Ferrari’s legal obligations and a grave violation of competition law,” a statement read. “The FIA will be issuing legal proceedings without delay.
“Preparations for the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship continue but publication of the final 2010 entry list will be put on hold while the FIA asserts its legal rights.”
At the heart of the legal proceedings will be the FIA’s assertion that Ferrari and the two Red Bull owned teams, Red Bull Racing and Scuderia Toro Rosso, are contractually bound to race in Formula One next year and that withdrawal is actionable. The teams however, dispute this, Ferrari, in particular, maintaining that by unilaterally imposing 2010 regulations, over which, by prior agreement, it is supposed to have power of veto, the agreements are rendered null and void, a position confirmed by the team in the late afternoon.
The diplomacy, meanwhile, continued, with F1 commercial rights holder Bernie Ecclestone talking to both the teams and the FIA president in an attempt to rescue his faltering empire. Asked about the possible departure of the FOTA teams, Ecclestone insisted it would not harm the series.
“The Formula One world championship has been going for 60 years and will continue to go,” he said. “We’ve had 73 teams in and out of the world championships so I don’t suppose it will change.”
Despite the apparent impasse, there remained room for manoeuvre last night. The FIA’s announcement that a new entry list would not be announced until it had explored legal avenues against the rebel teams effectively leaves the door open for further negotiation between the opposing bodies and the expectation remains that a compromise will be reached before any breakaway is formalised.
Indeed, Mosley was still insistent that such a split would not happen. “I don’t take it as seriously as some people do because I know that it is all posturing and posing,” he said. “It will all stop sometime between the beginning of 2010 and March 2010, the first race. All this will stop, it will all settle down and everyone will go racing.”
In the meantime the small matter of Silverstone’s final hosting of the British Grand Prix was under way on track and while the paddock grandees were turning on each other their employees were keeping the sport’s fans entertained in a more traditional fashion, with Sebastian Vettel ending the day fastest and team-mate Mark Webber just over a tenth of a second further back in a heavily upgraded Red Bull Racing car aimed at denting the dominance of Brawn GP’s Jenson Button, who finished the morning session third but dropped down to 14th, later admitting a home victory might be beyond him this weekend.
“Even if we sort the car out we are not going to be as quick as the Red Bulls, they are just staggeringly quick around here,” he said. “I don’t think we are going to find that pace overnight.”
What's At Stake? The implications
What’s it all about?
The row centres on cost-cutting. The FIA wishes to impose a budget cap of €47million on teams, effective from 2010, a figure the teams say is unworkable in the short term, preferring a glide-path of cost-cutting eventually arriving at that figure. The teams also have issues with how the sport is governed generally.
Is a breakaway series a real possibility?
It would be enormously complicated but yes, the teams backed by major manufacturers are powerful and wealthy enough to build their own series. Non-current championship circuits such as Silvertsone have already expressed an interest in hosting races and new teams are also making overtures to the rebels.
Would it damage Formula One? Undoubtedly. If the eight teams exit, F1 would be left with a core of Williams, Force India and three new entries, USF1, Campos and Manor Motorsport – hardly household names. Fans and, if contractually possible, television would follow the established stars, Ferrari, McLaren and Renault.
Would a split be good for the sport?
No. A similar split occurred in the US between the CART series and the Indy Racing League a decade ago and both codes suffered immeasurably. A re-merger of the two in recent years has done nothing to boost interest in open-wheel racing Stateside.
Diluting a brand as powerful as F1 would be disastrous for top-level motorsport.
Is there a solution to it all?
Inevitably there must be. All parties’ interests lie in keeping the Formula One brand alive and according to insiders the distance between the FIA and FOTA is minimal. Bernie Ecclestone, as ever, is likely to broker a peace in the dispute. It is, after all, the empire he built.
