All nine FOTA teams have submitted entries for next year’s world championship, averting the prospect of a mass boycott of Formula 1 by the sport’s established names.
The Formula One Teams' Association issued a statement on Friday afternoon stating that all its members would commit to F1 through to 2012 – provided they receive guarantees about the sport’s future governance, and that the FIA accepts FOTA's modifications to the controversial budget cap proposal.
The announcement marks an apparent breakthrough in the long-running dispute between the teams’ alliance and the FIA, although much will depend on the governing body’s response to FOTA’s pre-conditions.
The most striking of these is a demand that a new Concorde Agreement – long sought by F1’s commercial ringmaster Bernie Ecclestone – must be signed by all parties by June 12, when the FIA has said it will publish the list of confirmed participants in the 2010 season.
FOTA is seeking a formal contract to give greater stability over the rule-making process, having been unhappy with the way recent rule changes were pushed through the FIA World Council, bypassing teams and other stakeholders represented on the F1 Commission.
In return for such guarantees, the teams will pledge their allegiance to F1 for the next three years – an undertaking that appears to scotch rumours that Toyota was on the verge of quitting the sport.
FOTA’s other major proviso concerns the technical regulations to be adopted for 2010, which it says must be based on this year's rules subject to the amendments it has proposed in a submission to the FIA.
FOTA did not release details of these amendments but they are believed to include the phasing-in or dilution of the budget cap, with tight spending curbs to be delayed until 2011, and offsetting measures designed to ensure prospective new teams can compete in the higher-spending initial year.
The FOTA statement said: “All FOTA teams have today submitted conditional entries for the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship.
“FOTA confirms all its members’ long-term commitment to be involved in the FIA Formula One World Championship and has unanimously agreed further and significant actions to substantially reduce the costs of competing in the championship in the next three years, creating a mechanism that will preserve the technological competition and the sporting challenge and, at the same time, facilitate the entry in the F1 championship for new teams.
“These measures are in line with what has been already decided in 2009 within FOTA, achieving important saving on engines and gearboxes.
“All FOTA teams have entered the 2010 championship on the basis that: 1) The Concorde Agreement is signed by all parties before 12th June 2009, after which all FOTA teams will commit to competing in Formula One until 2012.
“The renewal of the Concorde Agreement will provide security for the future of the sport by binding all parties in a formal relationship that will ensure stability via sound governance.
“2) The basis of the 2010 regulations will be the current 2009 regulations, amended in accordance with proposals that FOTA has submitted to the FIA.”
FOTA also said it would not countenance a two-tier championship incorporating different sets of regulations, and insisted that all its members' entires must be accepted together or not at all.
The statement said: “All FOTA teams’ entries for the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship have been submitted today on the understanding that (a) all FOTA teams will be permitted to compete during the 2010 Formula One season on an identical regulatory basis, and (b) that they may only be accepted as a whole.
“All FOTA teams now look forward with optimism to collaborating proactively and productively with the FIA, with a view to establishing a solid foundation on which the future of a healthy and successful Formula One can be built, providing lasting stability and sound governance.”
Williams submitted its 2010 entry last Monday – a move that triggered its suspension from FOTA – so all 10 of the current teams on the F1 grid have now declared their intention to compete in next year's championship.
That leaves space for three new teams, and with Team US F1, Prodrive, Lola and Campos all having confirmed their applications, F1 appears to be over-subsribed for the first time in several years.
No comments:
Post a Comment