The F1 teams’ cost-limiting resource restriction agreement (RRA) has sped closer to its death in Brazil. A FOTA meeting at Interlagos on Friday had in the F1 paddock been referred to as “make or break”, with the teams at odds over the details.
“Judging by the faces of the team bosses,” reported Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport, “it was not a success.”
Red Bull’s Christian Horner confirmed: “We met and it has been decided that the RRA has effectively been taken out of FOTA for the time being, to try and achieve a solution.”
That decision might spare the formula one teams association (FOTA) collapse amid the dispute, but it is believed some of Horner’s rivals reacted with surprise to his announcement in the FIA press conference.
Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport reports that a definite outcome of the Friday meeting was the scheduling of another, with only the big four teams – Red Bull, McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes – to be involved. The report said Red Bull – accused behind the scenes of breaching the RRA cost limits – is under pressure, with one proposal on the table the transformation of the current agreement from a voluntary one to an actual regulation, punishable in sporting terms.
But Red Bull is not the only team under pressure, with Companies House in London showing that McLaren has 646 team employees; a number more than double the allowed limit for staff directly involved in the actual construction of the car.
Source:GMM
