OCTOBER 12, 2003

Will the FIA reject the proposals of the F1 Commission?

The FIA World Motorsport Council meets on Wednesday to vote on the proposals of the various commissions for rules relating to 2004. There are expected to be big changes in the World Rally Championship but we are also hearing murmurs that the F1 Commission's proposed 2004 Sporting Regulations may be sent back to the commission for modification.

The rule-making process allows for the World Council to send back proposals once but if the same proposals come back to the Council a second time, supported by a majority of the teams, they must be accepted. However, in order for the 2004 Sporting Regulations to come into force all of this needs to be completed by November 1 and with many of the F1 team bosses going away on holiday it is going to be tough to achieve, not because the voting cannot take place because these things can be done by fax, but rather because the time for lobbying is very limited, particularly as some of the team bosses, quite rightly, think they deserve some time off.

In effect this means that the rules will probably stay unchanged or might, conceivably, be modified by the FIA on the grounds that the teams were not capable of reaching decisions.