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FOTA's full press release
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FIA/FOTA agreement failed
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BBC Motorsport
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'Start your own series' , Mosley tells FOTA
Ecclestone would fight breakaway series
SourceThe Formula One Teams' Association announced on Thursday night that it is setting up a breakaway championship.
Following a four hour meeting at Renault's Enstone factory, the eight members of FOTA - Ferrari, McLaren, Renault, BMW, Toyota, Brawn, Red Bull and Scuderia Toro Rosso - said they had grown frustrated with the FIA's stance against the organisation, and had no option but to create a series of their own.
"The teams cannot continue to compromise on the fundamental values of the sport and have declined to alter their original conditional entries to the 2010 World Championship," said a statement issued by FOTA after the meeting.
"These teams therefore have no alternative other than to commence the preparation for a new Championship which reflects the values of its participants and partners. This series will have transparent governance, one set of regulations, encourage more entrants and listen to the wishes of the fans, including offering lower prices for spectators worldwide, partners and other important stakeholders.
"The major drivers, stars, brands, sponsors, promoters and companies historically associated with the highest level of motorsport will all feature in this new series."
F1 teams were given until Friday evening to remove the conditions attached to the provisional entries they posted earlier this month, or risk being left off the grid in 2010.
FIA president Max Mosley wrote to the teams yesterday offering them some of the concessions that they wanted to see regarding governance of the sport, but made it clear that he was sticking to plans for the introduction of a budget cap.
In his letter, Mosley also urged the teams to sign up to the championship before sorting out the final version of the regulations and a redrafted Concorde Agreement.
In response to that letter, the teams met at Renault's Enstone headquarters on Thursday evening for lengthy talks, where they finally decided that there was no way a compromise deal could be reached with the FIA.
The teams expressed frustration that their efforts to try and improve F1 had been rebuffed by the governing body and the sport's commercial rights holder.
"Since the formation of FOTA last September the teams have worked together and sought to engage the FIA and commercial rights holder, to develop and improve the sport," said the statement.
"Unprecedented worldwide financial turmoil has inevitably placed great challenges before the F1 community. FOTA is proud that it has achieved the most substantial measures to reduce costs in the history of our sport.
"In particular the manufacturer teams have provided assistance to the independent teams, a number of which would probably not be in the sport today without the FOTA initiatives. The FOTA teams have further agreed upon a substantial voluntary cost reduction that provides a sustainable model for the future.
"Following these efforts all the teams have confirmed to the FIA and the commercial rights holder that they are willing to commit until the end of 2012.
"The FIA and the commercial rights holder have campaigned to divide FOTA.
"The wishes of the majority of the teams are ignored. Furthermore, tens of millions of dollars have been withheld from many teams by the commercial rights holder, going back as far as 2006. Despite this and the uncompromising environment, FOTA has genuinely sought compromise."
The announcement by FOTA looks certain to overshadow the British Grand Prix, which takes place at Silverstone for the final time this weekend and which Mosley is expected to attend tomorrow.
With FOTA's stance now seemingly leaving no room for a deal possible, its likely that more new teams will be added to the FIA's 2010 Formula 1 entry list.
The inclusion of Ferrari, Red Bull Racing and Scuderia Toro Rosso on that roster remains open to debate, however, with the FIA claiming that the teams committed themselves to F1 in a deal agreed several years ago.
FOTA's full press release
SourceSince the formation of FOTA last September the teams have worked together and sought to engage the FIA and commercial rights holder, to develop and improve the sport. Unprecedented worldwide financial turmoil has inevitably placed great challenges before the F1 community. FOTA is proud that it has achieved the most substantial measures to reduce costs in the history of our sport.
In particular the manufacturer teams have provided assistance to the independent teams, a number of which would probably not be in the sport today without the FOTA initiatives. The FOTA teams have further agreed upon a substantial voluntary cost reduction that provides a sustainable model for the future. Following these efforts all the teams have confirmed to the FIA and the commercial rights holder that they are willing to commit until the end of 2012. The FIA and the commercial rights holder have campaigned to divide FOTA. The wishes of the majority of the teams are ignored. Furthermore, tens of millions of dollars have been withheld from many teams by the commercial rights holder, going back as far as 2006.
Despite this and the uncompromising environment, FOTA has genuinely sought compromise. It has become clear however, that the teams cannot continue to compromise on the fundamental values of the sport and have declined to alter their original conditional entries to the 2010 World Championship. These teams therefore have no alternative other than to commence the preparation for a new Championship which reflects the values of its participants and partners. This series will have transparent governance, one set of regulations, encourage more entrants and listen to the wishes of the fans, including offering lower prices for spectators worldwide, partners and other important stakeholders.
The major drivers, stars, brands, sponsors, promoters and companies historically associated with the highest level of motorsport will all feature in this new series. Note to Eds: Statement issued by FOTA on behalf of BMW-Sauber, BrawnGP, Scuderia Ferrari, McLaren- Mercedes, Red Bull Racing, Renault, Scuderia Toro Rosso, Toyota.
Background info
FIA/FOTA agreement failed
Williams was suspended by FOTAFormula 1 teams failed to reach an agreement with FIA president Max Mosley about the future of the sport on Friday, despite lengthy talks that ran into the early evening.
Following a series of discussions over the course of the day, the teams met with Mosley to try and find a resolution to their unhappiness about plans for a voluntary budget cap.
However, despite talking for almost three hours no agreement was reached meaning several teams remain poised to not lodge entries for 2010 by next weeks deadline.
Although most team principals refused to comment about the situation as they left the Automobile Club de Monaco, Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo revealed that more talks were needed.
"It was a long and constructive meeting," he said. "FOTA will have another meeting tomorrow, and then there will be another meeting with Mosley.
"What we want is that Formula 1 stays as Formula 1, that it doesn't become something different and go towards constant changes which confuse the public and all the others, that there should be stability and that we work over the next two years to arrive at a way of further reducing costs."
Despite the failure to reach an agreement on Friday, and with next weeks entry deadline looming, Mosley said he remained optimistic a deal could be reached.
"It was a good constructive meeting. The discussions are ongoing," he said.
When asked what the issues were, Mosley said: "They are the same issues. But I am hopeful there will be an agreement."
Ferrari, Red Bull, Toyota and Renault have all said that they will not enter the 2010 championship unless the rules are chaged.
Teams have until May 29 to lodge their entries to the championship with those missing the deadline likely to face a fine if they want to get back, providing there is space left on the grid.
Force India was also suspendedThe Formula One Teams' Association (FOTA) has temporarily suspended the Williams team, following its decision to formally enter the 2010 Formula One World Championship, according to a statement released by the team.
Sources told AUTOSPORT in Monaco that current teams had been informed by FOTA representatives that if they entered the championship unilaterally they would be suspended from the organisation.
The decision was taken during a meeting of F1's team principals in London on Wednesday, where they were in talks to discuss their position ahead of Friday's entry deadline for the 2010 championship.
The teams wrote a letter to FIA president Max Mosley on Sunday night, informing him that they were united in their efforts to get the 2010 regulations changed. Furthermore they added that should the FIA agree to scrapping the current rules framework they would commit to racing in F1 until 2010.
Frank Williams, Team Principal said of the decision: "FOTA's decision, although regrettable, is understandable.
"However, as a racing team and a company whose only business is Formula 1, with obligations to our partners and our employees, submitting our entry to next year's championship was unquestionable.
"In addition, we are legally obliged under our contract with FOM and the FIA to participate in the World Championship until the end of 2012."
Briatore was baffledVijay Mallya has asked the Formula One Teams' Association (FOTA) to reconsider his team's suspension from the organization, following its decision to lodge an unconditional entry to next year's championship.
Force India was officially informed by FOTA on Sunday night that it had been suspended alongside Williams for breaking away from the block conditional entries lodged by the other eight teams.
However, following discussions between Mallya and FOTA vice-chairman John Howett in Turkey on Sunday night, it was made clear that he wanted to fight the suspension.
Howett said: "I spoke to Dr Mallya. I expressed the view of the, if you like, the other FOTA members.
"He was very firm in his total commitment for FOTA and basically asked us to reconsider the suspension because he wants to remain a fully committed member of FOTA. So I need to clarify that; it's not my unique position to decide. So I will convey his points to the other team members."
Mallya made it clear that he had no choice but to lodge an unconditional entry because of banking covenants.
"I have only been told by John [Howett], who is vice-chairman of FOTA executive committee, today for the very first time that the executive committee, when they had a teleconference call last week, that they decided to suspend us when we changed our entry to an unconditional entry.
"All I said to John was, the circumstances of Force India are quite different to the circumstances of Williams - first and foremost I was completely transparent with FOTA and gave them copies of correspondence with my bankers and lawyers.
"Basically F1, like in the case of any other business, relies on its bankers to provide ongoing capital support. As you would in any business, you go to the bank and demonstrate sources of income, the sources of income are from sponsorship and the disbursement of revenue from FOM arising out of the television income that you are fully aware of.
"Both these sources of income, which are sources of comfort for banks to lend money, would have been under threat if our entry was not accepted. So therefore we were legally advised that Force India might breach our banking covenants if we went down the route of a conditional entry and did not lodge an unconditional entry as always. All of this was completely shared with FOTA."
Mallya said it was too early to judge if his request to get back in FOTA would be accepted.
"If they appreciate it, well and good, if they don't appreciate it then why should I lose sleep over it? I am doing what is good for Force India, first because I have a duty to comply with my legal obligations, I have a duty to the team and the company, and at the end of the day if it stops racing there is no business.
"Under the circumstances I had to do what I did. If FOTA membership cannot accept it then there is little I can do about it. Life goes on."
F1 awaited entry listRenault boss Flavio Briatore says he is baffled why teams and the FIA are still at loggerheads over cost-cutting plans for Formula 1.
With eight of the current teams only willing to enter next year's championship if rules for a £40 million budget cap are scrapped and a new Concorde Agreement is signed, F1 is facing the threat of a possible breakaway championship if their demands are not met by next Friday.
But with the FIA and the Formula One Teams' Association (FOTA) still not near agreement on a way forward, Briatore has said he cannot work out why the situation has been taken to the brink.
"Honestly, we don't know. For us it's a surprise why it's so difficult," Briatore said. "On my side, we don't understand why it's so difficult. We want to be in Formula 1. We want to be there in 2010, 2011, 2013, 2015. Again, we are always talking about 2012, I don't know why. We are talking about the future; why not 2013, 2014. I don't think there's any difference.
"From day one, FOTA was never aggressive with anybody. We just want to participate in the championship, we want to cut costs, we want to have clear rules, we want to have a governance, we want to go through, like it was in your time, we need a Formula One Commission, we need to make all the decision-setting together for the good of the sport, for the good of Formula 1.
"All the time we are forgetting the fans, the tifosi, the people. We're always forgetting these people. There is a lot of confusion now. I don't understand what the problem is. I think some people really don't understand why there is a problem. It's very destructive. We're not bluffing because when you have the responsibility of three or four hundred people, it's not bluffing.
"These are people who go home and the next day we need to make sure that we have the money to pay their salaries. You're not bluffing when you are putting on the line so many employees between everybody. We have to be concerned about that. We have people who have mortgages, we have people who have to send children to school.
"We are not bluffing. As I say, we don't want any war, we want stability in order to have a long term Formula One engagement. This is what we want. We don't want anything special, we just want stability, just stability."
Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali echoed Briatore's comments that he was keen for a solution to be found - and insisted that his team was not contracted to race in F1 next year by agreements it had in place with the FIA and Formula One Management.
"We had an agreement with the FIA but we felt that the obligations inside that agreement were breached, so the agreement is not anymore valid," said Domenicali. "We have put our entry in together with other competitors with the condition that we think is important to respect for the future of Formula 1.
"If I may take the opportunity to say that I think it is important at this moment to be constructive. There is no-one that wants to have any fight with anyone because this is not, at least on our side, the position that we want to take. It is a moment where we genuinely need to find a solution.
"We are here in Formula One for 60 years. We behave with a lot of responsibility to make sure that the values of Formula 1 will remain and this is the reason why we feel that it is important to look at this condition. This is the approach that we have taken together with FOTA.
"Do not underestimate that this year with FOTA we have already achieved a lot of cost saving measures without anyone that was requesting us as we know what is the environment around. But stability, governance, rules and the way to change them, these are crucial points to the future of Formula 1. We want to work together to try to find a way out of this moment which is really not good for Formula 1."
Force India and Williams have already announced that they plan to enter next year's championship whatever the regulations are.
Budget cap went aheadFormula 1 is bracing itself for what could be its biggest day in recent years, with the FIA due to publish the much awaited 2010 world championship entry list before lunchtime on Friday.
After last-ditch talks aimed at bringing an end to the stand-off between the FIA and the Formula 1 Teams' Association (FOTA) ended inconclusively on Thursday afternoon, all eyes are now on how many of the current teams will be on the entry list.
FIA president Max Mosley met in London with four representatives of FOTA - Ferrari's Stefano Domenicali, Brawn GP's Ross Brawn, Red Bull Racing's Christian Horner and Toyota's John Howett - in order to try and thrash out an 11th hour deal that will keep all the current teams committed.
But although there was no public confirmation that the two sides had edged any closer to a deal, there were suggestions that FOTA and the FIA were not totally at loggerheads on a way forward.
One source compared the situation to the black or white smoke signals given off by the Vatican during the election process of a new Pope. "There is grey smoke tonight," he said.
In recent days there has been more talk of a compromise deal, with Mosley indicating in a recent letter to Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo that the FIA would be ready to scrap the two-tier F1 plans, and sign a Concorde Agreement, if teams agreed to a 100-million-euro budget cap for 2010 - prior to it being reduced to £40 million (GBP) the following year.
As to what happens with the entry list announcement on Friday, no one outside of the FIA's circles is sure about what will happen.
Williams and Force India are certain to be on it, having lodged unconditional entries, and it should not be too difficult for the FIA to find at least three new teams to fill the available slots on the grid.
However, which of the remaining current outfits is on the entry list will determine where F1 is heading in both the next few weeks and perhaps the longer term.
Should the entries of the eight remaining FOTA members - Ferrari, McLaren, BMW Sauber, Renault, Toyota, Scuderia Toro Rosso, Red Bull Racing and Brawn - be rejected, then it could be the signal for those teams to accelerate their plans for a breakaway championship.
There would also likely be huge controversy should the FIA choose to put Ferrari, and perhaps the two Red Bull teams, on the entry list unconditionally - if the governing body stood by the belief that some teams have contractually tied themselves into racing in F1.
One way of defusing the tension, however, would be for the FIA to hand provisional entries to all of FOTA's outfit - pending the successful resolution of talks aimed at reducing costs.
Ferrari has made no secret of the fact that it will only race in F1 if it is happy with the rules - and the announcement of the entry list comes ahead of a visit to Le Mans by di Montezemolo and the Scuderia's team principal Stefano Domenicali.
In a statement issued on Thursday, di Montezemolo made a clear hint that the challenge of Le Mans would be enough to attract the Maranello team in the future.
"I am delighted to be given the opportunity to start a race that has made motor racing history and has such strong links with Ferrari," he said.
"Our Scuderia has delivered some unforgettable achievements on this circuit. The Le Mans 24 Hour Race is synonymous with technologically-advanced sporting competition and has always been a focus of great attention on our part."
The other interest in the entry list will come with which of the new outfits is granted a place on the 2010 grid. Among the leading contenders to be given the nod are Prodrive, Campos Racing, Epsilon Euskadi, Lola, Superfund, USF1 and Team Lotus.
The FIA says that its plans for a £40 million budget cap will now go ahead unchanged, after the latest talks between the governing body and the Formula One Teams' Association (FOTA) to try and find a compromise ended without a deal.
Leading financial representatives from both the FIA and FOTA met in London on Monday to try and reach a settlement on next year's rules that would be acceptable to both parties.
There had been some hope that new rules could be put in place after preliminary agreement was reached between FIA president Max Mosley and several representatives of FOTA in a meeting last week.
However, the FIA has been left disappointed that this week's meeting achieved nothing, after FOTA's representatives said they could not discuss the rules, and the teams' proposals were rejected as being ineffective.
A statement issued by the FIA on Tuesday said: "As agreed at the meeting of 11 June, FIA financial experts met yesterday with financial experts from FOTA.
"Unfortunately, the FOTA representatives announced that they had no mandate to discuss the FIA's 2010 financial regulations. Indeed, they were not prepared to discuss regulation at all.
"As a result, the meeting could not achieve its purpose of comparing the FIA's rules with the FOTA proposals with a view to finding a common position.
"In default of a proper dialogue, the FOTA financial proposals were discussed but it became clear that these would not be capable of limiting the expenditure of a team which had the resources to outspend its competitors. Another financial arms race would then be inevitable.
"The FIA Financial Regulations therefore remain as published."
The FIA has become increasingly frustrated with the failure to find a solution to the row, and on Monday it accused factions with FOTA of deliberately trying to scupper a deal.
F1's current teams have been given until Friday to drop the conditions attached to their entries, or risk being left off the grid for 2010.
With part of their conditions being that the 2010 regulations are scrapped, the FIA's latest stance makes it increasingly unlikely that the matter can be resolved before the deadline.
More info
BBC Motorsport
RIP
'Start your own series' , Mosley tells FOTA
Ecclestone would fight breakaway series
