Williams CEO Adam Parr has said he wants his team to be re-admitted to FOTA following the end of the controversy that saw them excluded from the umbrella group.
Williams were contracted to race in F1 next season and so had no choice but to break FOTA unity and sign up unconditionally, which the other teams had refused to do. They and Force India were suspended from the group. But with peace talks having concluded satisfactorily for all yesterday, Parr said he hoped the Grove team would be permitted to come back into the FOTA fold.
“I do hope so. I think that’s something we’d all like to see,” he said. “It’s essential we, along with Force India and the new teams, are part of the discussions going forward.”
Much of what was tentatively agreed yesterday has yet to be thrashed out, and observers are expecting more conflict between the teams and the FIA before F1 2010 becomes a finished product. A sticking point could be FOTA’s ideas for reducing spending, which the FIA hopes will come down to early 1990s levels. Parr made reference to the amount of talking that still had to be undertaken.
“I think there’s a lot of detail to fill out in terms of how that [reduced spending] is going to be achieved and what the actual target is,” he added.
FOTA are due to announce today their ideas for cost cuts in Bologna.
