- 24 Jun 09, 11:22#128740
An agreement has been reached between Formula 1's governing body and the teams to prevent a breakaway series, says FIA president Max Mosley.
The two parties had been engulfed in a bitter row over planned budgetary and technical changes for the new season.
But it appears a resolution has now been found and, as part of the deal, Mosley has agreed not to stand for re-election as president.
"There will be no split. We have agreed to a reduction of costs," added Mosley.
"There will be one F1 championship but the objective is to get back to the spending levels of the early 90s within two years."
F1 surpremo Bernie Ecclestone added that he is "very happy common sense has prevailed", following a meeting of 120 members of the FIA in Paris aimed at resolving the crisis.
Ahead of the meeting, Mosley had insisted that he would not step down as part of any potential agreement and might even seek re-election as head of world motor sport.
He hit out at what he described as "wholly unjustified criticism" of the FIA, adding: "It is for the FIA membership, and the FIA membership alone, to decide on its democratically elected leadership, not the motor industry and still less the individuals the industry employs to run its Formula 1 teams."
However, it appears Mosley has now agreed to move aside when his fourth term as FIA president ends in October, while writs that had been threatened against Ferrari and the other teams in the Formula 1 Teams Association (Fota) - McLaren, BMW Sauber, Renault, Toyota, Red Bull Racing, Toro Rosso and Brawn GP - are likely to be shelved.
"It's come as a bit of a surprise, given that Fota were planning to meet in Bologna on Thursday to discuss their plans for the breakaway championship," reported BBC sports news correspondent James Munro from Paris.
"But what we got today after a meeting of World Motorsport Council was an impromptu press conference and Mosley began by saying there will be no split, there will be one championship.
"He said that over the course of the negotiations he had been able to secure guarantees from the teams who were threatening to get away that they would try to reign back the levels of their spending to the levels they were spending in the early 90s.
"It was him that had come up with the idea that next season all teams would have a budget cap of about £40m, but there has clearly been a trade-off as he has also agreed to do what he says was always the plan - stand down as president of the FIA this October."
Last edited by irons_4_ever on 24 Jun 09, 12:13, edited 3 times in total.
- By darwin dali