Formula 1

FOTA response not all 'negative' - FIA

As the F1 crisis nears its zenith, Bernie Ecclestone has warned rebel teams that crossing him could cost them "hundreds of millions of pounds". The eight FOTA teams are openly threatening to leave the FIA-sanctioned championship and set up a ...

GMM

Published: Oct 2, 2009, 4:48 PM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

As the F1 crisis nears its zenith, Bernie Ecclestone has warned rebel teams that crossing him could cost them "hundreds of millions of pounds".

The eight FOTA teams are openly threatening to leave the FIA-sanctioned championship and set up a breakaway series, and are believed to have told Max Mosley on Tuesday that they are not going to simply take his advice and drop the conditions attached to their 2010 entries.

The Formula One teams association's official response to Mosley's letter of this week was not leaked, but the fact the sides are still talking was interpreted by some as a positive sign.

An FIA spokesman said: "The FIA has received a letter and various attachments from FOTA, the contents of which are not entirely negative, and we are currently examining the details."

Another positive sign is the rumour that, on Friday, the FIA will publish an entry list bearing the names of five teams: Williams, Force India, and only three new entries despite the multiple applications.

That would leave space and time for the eight FOTA teams to reach a compromise with the FIA president and be added to a later edition of the entry list.

However, it has been suggested that Friday's list could also feature Ferrari, Red Bull and Toro Rosso, who are all understood to have in the past signed agreements committing to the sport, including in 2010.

An FIA source confirmed that, in addition to the FOTA letter, a separate letter from Mosley was sent this week to Ferrari. But the Italian team's boss Stefano Domenicali does not think Ferrari is bound to race in F1 next year.

"We had an agreement with the FIA, but we felt that the obligations inside that agreement were breached, so the agreement is not valid any more," he said.

The uncertainty is unnerving everyone. In the Daily Express, F1 chief executive Ecclestone nailed his colours to the FIA by warning contracted teams against betraying him in the form of a rival series.

"Apart from my contracts with teams, if somebody went to any of our contracted people, companies, television contractors, we would view it very seriously.

"Any action could run to hundreds of millions of pounds, who knows how much?" he added.

Again playing a conciliatory role is the post-Ron Dennis management of McLaren, with new boss Martin Whitmarsh commenting to the German press on Tuesday.

"Unfortunately the teams, the FIA and the rights holders do not always share opinions, but it would be wrong to tear up everything built up in the past 60 years," he said.

"This is a sport with a lot of very strong personalities involved. Perhaps after so long some parties think they don't need the other any more. But if we leave personal considerations aside, a compromise is possible," the Briton added.

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article Carmakers should supply engines only - Stuck

Next article Friday looms as the day F1 split

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

Kaden Honeycutt wins incident-free Phoenix NASCAR Truck race, extends points lead

NASCAR Truck

NSTR NASCAR Truck

Phoenix

1 h

Kaden Honeycutt wins incident-free Phoenix NASCAR Truck race, extends points lead

GTA VI 'Vice City' blimp to appear at NASCAR championship weekend

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Phoenix II

6 h

GTA VI 'Vice City' blimp to appear at NASCAR championship weekend

Verstappen Racing struggles to 15th as Porsche takes emotional Portimao pole

GT World Challenge Europe Endurance

WCEE GT World Challenge Europe Endurance 7 h

Verstappen Racing struggles to 15th as Porsche takes emotional Portimao pole

Franco Colapinto urges fans to stop the abuse: “You’re not helping me or my future”

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

Singapore GP

11 h

Franco Colapinto urges fans to stop the abuse: “You’re not helping me or my future”

Feature

Discover prime content

Lights, Camara, action: How Haas picked F1's latest rookie for 2027

Formula 1

Singapore GP

By Jake Boxall-Legge

Lights, Camara, action: How Haas picked F1's latest rookie for 2027

Employing team orders can simply be a matter of common sense

Formula 1

By Kevin Turner

Employing team orders can simply be a matter of common sense

Why Christian Horner sees history repeating itself for Adrian Newey at Aston Martin

Formula 1

Singapore GP

By Ronald Vording

Why Christian Horner sees history repeating itself for Adrian Newey at Aston Martin

Laurent Mekies under the microscope: How different is his leadership at Red Bull from Christian Horner?

Formula 1

Singapore GP

By Ronald Vording

Laurent Mekies under the microscope: How different is his leadership at Red Bull from Christian Horner?

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts