FORUMula1.com - F1 Forum

[Rivelution]

Formula One's most successful driver Michael Schumacher lent his support to a Ferrari-led breakaway series on Saturday, saying it was realistic.
"It is simply not understandable that all teams share their view on how to approach the reforms and the governing body still wants to implement something else," the seven times world champion said on his personal website (http://www.michael-schumacher.de).
"Of course this seems unimaginable in the first moment, but this time all big teams stick together. This makes a new championship much more realistic.
"It is starting to be a real alternative to me," added the German.
"As a motorsport fan I want to watch the best show which is where the best drivers and the best teams compete with each other."
BMW-Sauber, Brawn, Ferrari, McLaren, Red Bull, Renault, Toro Rosso and Toyota announced on Thursday that they were preparing to set up their own championship after a breakdown in talks with the governing body over next year's rules.
Schumacher, who won five of his titles with Ferrari and the other two with Renault's predecessors Benetton, decried the amount of politics in the sport.
"I really hope those political games will soon be ended, they were getting on my nerves during all my career," he said.
"In the end doesn't it all come down to one simple fact: Motorsport is a great sport, Formula One has been the best of it and has to remain the pinnacle," he added.
"Formula One has been the platform for the best drivers and the best teams. This is what is admired all over the world, this is what everybody wants to see.
"But if this is constantly put into question due to permanent uncertainty of rules it is maybe better to really defend that value, leave and establish it somewhere else in a reasonable way."
Schumacher also serves on the board of trustees of the governing International Automobile Federation (FIA)'s foundation, promoting road safety.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/feedarticle/8568296

[Rorschach]

Nice. I hope this is as it seems and we're not all back here this time next season with some bullpoo nancy series with drivers riding around in tonka cars like Legoland toddlers.

Follow through FOTA.

[7UpJordan]

From F1 Live:

The next deadline in the FIA/FOTA standoff may be several weeks away, according to McLaren boss Martin Whitmarsh. His fellow FOTA-affiliated chiefs met again on Saturday to discuss how to proceed in the wake of announcing the decision to plan a breakaway series.

But after the FIA postponed publishing a definitive entry list for the official world championship, many observers are now wondering what time pressure exists for a potential peace deal to be brokered – if any.

On Friday, FIA President Max Mosley predicted the tensions could continue until early 2010, when the first race of next season is looming large.

But Whitmarsh said at Silverstone that late July is the key date, and that until then FOTA is "open to finding a solution if we can."

"The teams are ready to discuss with anybody how we go racing next year," he said.
"I think by the end of July, everybody is going be progressively on diverging paths, so whatever separates us today will be greater by then.”

The political row had spilled into the grandstands on Saturday, with one group of spectators wearing 'FOTA rules!' t-shirts and standing before a huge banner demanding 'Max out'.

But if the breakaway group does split, it seems the rival series would have to make do without many of the current venues, according to the Straits Times newspaper.

The publication said Singapore's five-year contract precludes the Republic negotiating with another series, and that other hosts like Melbourne have similar restrictions.

E.A. © CAPSIS International
Source: GMM

So is this what happened in the end? What's the point of deadlines when you're never going to meet them? This is almost like GCSE coursework deadlines when the lazy students can't be bothered to do anything and miss the deadline, preach to the teacher and then it gets extended.

On the Friday this FIA/FOTA row was mentioned all day on the circuit's TV (with John Watson who looks older than Murray Walker going off topic and talking about the Titanic!), but come Saturday morning I never heard a single mention of it.

[cap-dude]

Bit of a shocking revalation in the Breakaway series story

A compromise was found, but then dropped:

BBC Mole
As the British Grand Prix weekend has developed, more and more details of the behind-the-scenes shenanigans have come out, and they make interesting reading.

The Mole's sources say that on Wednesday last week, the teams' umbrella group Fota had agreed a compromise with FIA president Max Mosley that would have seen everyone sign up for F1 in 2010.

It appears, though, that when Mosley sent through the documentation the following morning, he had changed the date until which the teams had to commit to F1 from 2012 to 2014.

For Fota, it seems this was the final straw - one more piece of evidence of what they see as Mosley's autocratic and arbitrary decision-making.


Later that day, the Fota teams had the meeting at the Renault factory in Enstone in Oxfordshire that culminated in them putting out their statement that they would be racing elsewhere in 2010.

The mood on Friday and even into Saturday morning was one of lightness borne of a decision finally taken. Sort of: "Well, we've done it then. That's it."

But over the weekend the sands have continued to shift.

Both sides continue to pursue contrasting ends. Fota talk about their breakaway championship, which they have started to organise. But at the same time McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh was on Saturday afternoon openly talking of "finding a solution if we can".

Mosley and the FIA have continued discussions with potential new teams - as of now, there are only five entries for the FIA F1 world championship in 2010, and even some of them are plagued by uncertainty.

But at the same time, Mosley's aide Alan Donnelly met with Red Bull's Christian Horner, Ross Brawn, Stefano Domenicali of Ferrari and Toyota's John Howett on Sunday morning to pursue common ground.

But there are serious issues still to address. Mosley's style of governance remains a major issue with the teams, who have not been impressed by the flood of press releases put out by the FIA last week.

Inevitably, these painted a pro-FIA picture, but the teams feel that they misrepresented - at best - what was actually going on.

Mosley made a number of major compromises in the course of the week, but faced with no guarantees that he would do what he said he would, Fota teams felt they had no option but not to sign up for next year.

And there were problems even with some of the promises he had given.

As an example, the 2010 technical regulations as published enshrine a two-tier system which gives a performance advantage to those teams who choose to operate within a cost cap.

Among these is the ability for the Cosworth engine used by the budget-cap teams to run without a rev limit, while any team not operating within the cost cap would be restricted to 18,000rpm, as they are this year.

Mosley has promised to remove the two-tier system but wants to retain the engine disparity.

Mosley claimed in a letter on 17 June that "any engineer will confirm that this will not give the relevant teams any competitive advantage whatsoever".

The problem is, no engineer will confirm that. One senior engine technician told the Mole this week that Mosley's claim was "total rubbish". Except he wasn't as polite as that.

Another engineer explained that Cosworth cars would be slower in the early laps of a race because their higher-revving engine would need to start the race with more fuel following the banning of refuelling next year.

But because they had more power - by around 10%, or more than 70bhp - they would be faster in qualifying. Overtaking is very difficult in F1, so they would be able to hold up the rev-limited cars in the early laps and would anyway be faster again at the end of the race once the fuel had burnt off.

There is a meeting of the FIA World Council on Wednesday - effectively the organisation's cabinet and legislature rolled into one - and there are rumours that Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo, who is expected to attend as the company's representative, may try to undermine Mosley in some way there.

Certainly, if there is one thing that has not changed it is the sense that if Mosley left office, the problem would rapidly go away.

(Even if there are other issues surrounding the amount of money the venture capital group that owns F1's commercial rights, CVC, takes out of the sport and the effect that has in such things as the places F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone chooses to hold races ).

But persuading a man who appears to live for power and influence to give it up is perhaps the most intractable of the many problems facing F1's powerbrokers right now.

The highlighted points there were the most shocking in my opinion.

WTF is Mosley playing at here. Getting the teams all to agree to something, and then going behind their backs and changing the agreement.

Mosley stated yesterday that the problem was that the teams would agree on something, and then come back the next day and say, actually we don't agree. No bloody wonder, its cause Mosley is changing agreed changes. What an absolute prick.

[scotty]

Bit of a shocking revalation in the Breakaway series story

A compromise was found, but then dropped

Yeah, they were saying that in the BBC build up too - in fact it might have been Mosley himself?! 5 or 6 teams agreed then went away, and 'changed their minds' after speaking to others despite having agreed. I think the teams named were RB/STR, Toyota, Ferrari and Brawn...

edit: i see Mosley obviously didn't mention the part where he changes the rules afterward in his interview, if that allegation is true then... oh dear.

[7UpJordan]

Mosley needs overthrowing, If all the FOTA teams break away along with the top drivers that won't bode well for Williams on their own in F1 with all of Mosley's stupid plan to ever so slowly turn F1 into a spec series and have ovals for every track.

[Hexagram]

The plot deepens!

[darwin dali]

Usually it thickens though...

[bud]

Usually it thickens though...

na id go with deepens with Max.... deeper up his rectum!

[Hexagram]

Usually it thickens though...

na id go with deepens with Max.... deeper up his rectum!

[Jamie]

Didn't Briatore said there will definitely be a break away? Hmmm..Strange

[McLaren Fan]

From F1 Live:

On a day when Sky Italia took a poll during their broadcast of the British Grand Prix which found an astonishing 91 percent of viewers supported the Formula One Teams' Association stance, Max Mosley said the FIA will not proceed with legal action against the FOTA members, indicating he would rather reach a deal to stave off the threat of a breakaway championship.

"There won't be any writ. I think we would rather talk than litigate," the President of the Paris-based body said before walking the Silverstone grid.

Mosley, who in an earlier interview this weekend dismissed the FOTA figureheads like ‘the Bernie’ Flavio Briatore as ‘loonies’, claims there is actually very little the teams and the FIA is arguing about.

He invited the disgruntled rebel teams to "sit down and iron out the last few difficulties."

"It's definitely getting better - but these things take time," he explained. "The problem is we have eight teams and some want to sit down, some don't.
No doubt, eventually they all will."

He agrees with Martin Whitmarsh that time is a factor, after the McLaren boss said preparations for the breakaway will be too far advanced by the end of July.

"If this goes on for any length of time, it damages the teams. It doesn't affect the FIA, it damages the teams because it affects their sponsors," said Mosley.

Bernie Ecclestone said he was pleased to hear about Mosley's comments.

"If Max says (a deal) is close, then that's good," the F1 Chief Executive said.

E.A. © CAPSIS International
Source: GMM

[McLaren Fan]

From F1 Live:

Briatore: Time for deal has passed

By Jonathan Noble Monday, June 22nd 2009, 12:22 GMT

Renault boss Flavio Briatore believes the time for teams doing a deal with the FIA over future rules has now passed.

With members of the Formula One Teams' Association (FOTA) scheduled to get together later this week to discuss the next step in their plans for a breakaway series, Briatore is adamant that the only thing on their mind is getting the new championship ready.

"We have tried to compromise, we have opened the door, we have tried everything," he said. "We have had the door closed in our face. The agreement has not been done by FOTA; it has been done by the manufacturers. All the ACEA people.

"Maybe the people aren't doing business, like somebody said, but the ACEA people are very firm, and this is their position, as simple as that."

FOTA is expected to get together on Thursday, the day after the FIA's World Motor Sport Council meets - and when potentially news about whether or not Max Mosley will stand for re-election in October could be made public.

Although confirmation that Mosley will see through with his plan to step down has been viewed by some members of FOTA as vital if they are going to consider progressing with a deal with the FIA, Briatore says that the outcome on Wednesday will not sway the body's position.

"I don't know. I've no idea," he said when asked if what happens on Wednesday would change anything regarding the breakaway. "I don't think the World Council will change anything regarding the FOTA teams."

Briatore has also expressed his disappointment over Mosley's comments about him at the weekend - where he was accused to trying to become the new Bernie Ecclestone.

"Max is going personal all the time," said Briatore. "I'm too much of a gentleman to go personal. If he wants to go personal, I have a lot to say about Max. I know. He needs to stop insulting people."

When asked about comments from Mosley that he was a 'loony' Briatore responded: "I don't want to personally describe what Max is because in his private life we have already had a demonstration of what he was in the News of the World.

"If he is talking about lunatics and stuff like that, he needs to watch himself, to just do the best job possible for him, the teams and not go personal, insulting me, the people from FOTA, the people from ACEA.

"It's enough. If there is somebody who needs to be very quiet in their personal life, it's him because for sure he is not a [good] example, to be president with what he has in his personal life.

"He needs to stop making it personal all the time."

And Briatore has also played down suggestions that he is planning on helping run the FOTA series.

"I see myself exactly like I am. I am in FOTA. I believe in FOTA - I was one of the first to believe in FOTA," he said. "I believe FOTA is strong, we want a championship with the best teams in the world, the best drivers in the world, and want the people in F1 who have the knowledge of being in F1, not GP3 or GP4.

"We want real teams, not empty boxes. We are very curious because Friday was the deadline to announce the teams for the FIA 2010 championship.

"It was very hard for us to really be ready for Friday. This was supposed to be the day for the list of the new teams in Formula 1. I don't see this list. I am very curious to see this list."

[Jamie]

Source - ITV
FOTA: The fans are on our side
FOTA vice-president and Toyota Racing boss John Howett says he is confident that the public are on the teams' side in the breakaway row.

He said he had been highly encouraged by the support for FOTA shown by fans at Silverstone during the British Grand Prix weekend – with some carrying banners to show their allegiance to the teams' alliance, which announced on Thursday night that it inteds to launch a breakaway series in 2010.

"We're very encouraged by the overwhelming public opinion and support for the FOTA position," Howett said.

After FIA president Max Mosley said he felt there was now little separating the warring sides and that a deal could quickly be agreed if FOTA returned to the negotiating table, Howett countered that with the fans on its side, FOTA was more convinced than ever than the FIA had to concede significant ground in order for a breakthrough to happen.

"My impression is that if you look at the overwhelming support from the public, ultimately there has to be a significant move from the Federation," he said.

"We have a clear position and we've made numerous concessions to achieve some sort of compromise.

"Now we've made the decision and at the moment we're moving forward very positively along that vector."

He added that FOTA's move to pull out of the FIA world championship had not been made lightly, but that the time had come to put the row aside and focus on getting the new series started.

"On Thursday I would say it was a fairly difficult discussion and decision but we felt that we were in a corner and we had no alternative but to issue that statement," Howett said.

"We're meeting in this coming week to actually start the next phase and moving to the application."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Too late for compromise – Domenicali
Monday, 22 June 2009 15:22

Stefano Domenicali said FOTA was pushed beyond the point where it could consider compromising its stance and entering next year's world championship under the FIA's terms.

The eight teams still active in the teams' alliance declared last Thursday night that they would establish their own breakaway series next season.

Although FIA president Max Mosley said yesterday that there was much common ground and a deal could easily be reached, Ross Brawn responded that FOTA would prefer to press ahead with its rival championship rather than return to the table with the FIA.

Domenicali agreed with Brawn's position and said the time for talking was over.

"Ross spoke not only for Ross, but the FOTA teams – that's the line of all the teams," he said.

"We want to go ahead with the [breakaway] project.


"Our position is pretty clear.

"All the FOTA teams have shown a great respect for the FIA and a lot of will to find solutions and compromise.

"But there is a limit and you have to act accordingly.

"We have shown a very rational and professional approach."

While Mosley suggested that there were 'elements' in FOTA that were more committed to the breakaway cause and others willing to compromise, Domenicali said he was fairly sure that the teams were in total agreement.

"I won't exclude anything because in life and politics we know how things work – in front of the sheen and behind the sheen," he said.

"But the position of FOTA is pretty clear and I was happy to see we were very united on this position."

Domenicali added that while Ferrari in particular had been very critical of the new teams lining up to either replace the FOTA squads in the F1 entry or take some of the vacant spaces, FOTA would be happy to work with newcomers in its breakaway championship – provided they were of suitable calibre.

"We'll be able to make sure that the big constuctors, the independent teams and the new teams that want to come in are very, very welcome," he said.

"This is something that has to be very clear: no one is putting any kind of barrier to new teams.

"We are very happy to have new teams, but the value of Formula 1 must not be devalued by the level of new teams that want to come in, with all due respect."

[MAD MAX]

Very powerful statement. Either Max backs down and displays common sense or the teams are off - FANTASTIC news