AUGUST 15, 2004

F1 team bosses have "worst ever" meeting

The Formula 1 team principals met on Saturday in Budapest but were unable to agree on anything, a situation which led one of the number to describe the meeting as "the worst ever". It is now generally accepted that the rules will be changed to what FIA President Max Mosley wants to see although many of the team bosses have serious reservations about the rules being put forward by Mosley, arguing that they will make the racing less interesting than ever. There remains a danger that some of the teams will take the FIA to arbitration over the change for the engine formula because of clauses in the Concorde Agreement and assurances which have been given in the past by Max Mosley that the 3-litre V10 formula would continue until the end of the current Concorde Agreement at the end of 2007.

We hear that McLaren is adopting a new attitude to deals in the future and will agree to whatever rules are voted through but in order to compete will no longer be willing to stick to any deals other than those agreed in the Concorde Agreement. That could mean no restriction on testing.

More and more of the F1 team bosses are now despairing of ever getting anything achieved to improve the sport before the end of the Concorde Agreement in December 2007. What happens after that is also a big problem because there remains a very serious possibility that unless there is a sensible commercial settlement there will be a manufacturer-backed series, if only because there seems to be no valid alternative.