JULY 8, 2009

Trouble beginning to spool up again

As expected, there is more trouble coming between the FIA and FOTA, despite the supposed agreement at the FIA World Council meeting on June 24. The F1 teams met with the FIA today to try to go back to the F1 Sporting and Technical Regulations that were discused before April 29. The FIA says that the eight FOTA teams were invited to discuss their proposals for 2010 but that "no discussion was possible because FOTA walked out of the meeting". The changes were then agreed by the five FIA teams, subject to the maintenance of a minimum weight at 620 kg and - more importantly - the signing of a legally binding agreement between all the teams competing in 2010 to reduce costs to the level of the early 1990s within two years, as promised by the FOTA representative in Paris on June 24.

FOTA may argue that at the same meeting FIA President Max Mosley promised not to stand for election for the FIA Presidency in October, but he has since said that he may review that pledge as the FIA members clubs want him to stay on. It remains to be seen whether this is the case.