The FIA published a vast quantity of material today. Most of it relates to its discussions with Ferrari over whether the Italian team was able to use its technical veto to block the imposition of the budget cap. As I wrote last week:
It is worth remembering why Ferrari’s attempt to use the French courts to block the FIA’s 2010 rules was rejected. It was not on grounds that the contract was invalid – which might have offered Ferrari a way out of this predicament. It was because the court ruled Ferrari had missed an earlier opportunity to exercise the technical veto afforded to it by the contract.
Perhaps, then, Ferrari’s agreement with the FIA is rather more iron-clad than they would like to believe.
There’s more discussion of the documents in yesterday’s links thread. Inevitably you have to wonder at what point did the FIA or Ferrari (or both) begin crafting their replies with a view to how they would look when they eventually got published. The FIA’s letter of June 10th certainly gives me that impression. Here the FIA press release with links to further reams of reading material at the bottom, plus more of today’s links:
Ferrari pinning hopes on modified F60
"Both drivers will use the new lightweight chassis, the first time by Felipe Massa. The updates were tested at Fiorano on Monday by Massa, whom was stuck with straightline testing duties as Marce Gene was away at Le Mans."
Vettel sunk in race for Laureus honours
"Instead of it being [Vettel] receiving a visitation from a member of the Academy in the build-up to this weekend's British Grand Prix – a race where he is expected to challenge for victory – British swimming sensation Rebecca Adlington, who won two gold medals in Beijing at the age of 19 to become Britain's first female Olympic swimming champion in 48 years, was confirmed as the award's latest winner."
Lewis: we need a global Decade of Action for road safety
Lewis Hamilton: “In the UK we have made great progress on road safety, but much more can be done. We need a global Decade of Action to cut the number of deaths by half. It is an ambitious vision, but not an impossible one. And it could help to save millions of lives.”
Jenson Button disappoints fans by pulling out of triathlon
"A spokesman for Button, pictured, said he decided to pull out of the charity event after realising belatedly that it was just a week before the Silverstone Grand Prix on Sunday." (Via Vee8)
New teams get a taste of Mosley vindictiveness
"By now, it is abundantly clear that last week’s publication of the entry list was not designed to clear up the situation. Every single line in that publication was designed to wind someone up. It’s the way Max Mosley does his business: personality politics, vindictiveness and grandstanding. He clearly gets a thrill out of putting people in painful situations."
"One thing that cannot be denied however is that, as things stand today, it is the FIA that is appearing to be making itself open to negotiation while FOTA is not."
Damon Hill: why F1 needs Silverstone
Damon Hill on Silverstone 1992: "]Mansell] won the race, crossed the line in front of me as he had just lapped me, and this bloke jumped over the fence and was jumping around in the middle of the track. I was going down the straight, I’d backed off but I was still doing 150mph, and he wasn’t looking at me at all. So I swerved, missed him and we got as far as Stowe at which point everyone was on the track and we couldn’t go any further. Everyone left their cars and they were being stripped of parts… I just thought ‘well, you can take everything – it’s only a Brabham’."
"All the drivers share the same view. We want to drive for the best teams and race against the best drivers. If it's not the FIA Formula 1 world championship, so be it. It'll still be the most prestigious championship."
persempre
17th June 2009, 1:16
Yep, the word is propaganda.
Things will be carefully chosen to make A look good & B look bad and we will probably never get to see or hear half of the ‘evidence’ because of the confidentiality clauses so popular in F1 contracts.
Even from the documents released today some things are clear, though.
The disruptive element was, indeed, Luca di Montezemolo ;)
Confirmation that contracts have been signed on a one-to-one basis allowing for differing terms to be drawn up with different entrants.
Disclosure of the fact that the FIA has demanded exclusivity, at least as far as Ferrari is concerned – “no Ferrari team (including any team over which Ferrari exercises direct or indirect control) will take part in any motorsport competition other than those run under the International Sporting Code of the FIA and under the ultimate authority of the FIA”
(The death blow for the previous threat of a breakaway series?)
I`m not sure that today`s flurry of activity will have done anything to change anyone`s mind, though. It will probably only solidify people’s existing views. Fans seem to be fairly sure of where they stand on the issue be that pro-FOTA, pro-FIA and/or totally fed up with the whole darn lot of them :)
I think it would take a real eye-opener to change that.
Accidentalmick
17th June 2009, 10:22
“no Ferrari team (including any team over which Ferrari exercises direct or indirect control) will take part in any motorsport competition other than those run under the International Sporting Code of the FIA and under the ultimate authority of the FIA”
This has been tested in English courts and (I think) in other countries as well. A contract which stops someone earning their living is not legaly enforcable.
scunnyman
18th June 2009, 8:34
It would appear Max has drawn a line in the sand.
http://www.itv-f1.com/News_Article.aspx?id=46145
F1Yankee
17th June 2009, 1:56
reading the fia statement, all i could think was “hammer into anvil”.
Hammad
17th June 2009, 4:31
I’m just waiting for all this **** to finish. Then we can get back to what semblance of competition is left in this year’s championship, or we could be eagerly anticipating the setup of the FOTA series…..
jinthehouse
17th June 2009, 6:48
Everyone seems to forget. Within the FOTA teams, there are a lot of people who will lose there jobs. These people don’t Kimi moeny and will no doubt have trouble finding jobs. it seems like the FIA has never had an answer to the teams on this. They hired all these people in one set of rules to compete. Now they fire them I guess. Seems kinda harsh. I know the worlds going to hell in a handbasket but these are the people that make your sport go….machanics and such. What of all there mortgages and families and kids in school. Seems the FOTA’s plea for a sliding scale makes sense. Your asking teams to make an 80% reduction in operating costs in 6 months. If ya gotta lay people off. might as well do it all at once i guess.
Supercar_hire
17th June 2009, 7:25
Good look to Ferrari with the new model, they need something amazing to get them back uo there…
DGR-F1
17th June 2009, 8:10
“no Ferrari team (including any team over which Ferrari exercises direct or indirect control) will take part in any motorsport competition other than those run under the International Sporting Code of the FIA and under the ultimate authority of the FIA”
Doesn’t ALMS/Le Mans come under this? Or what about the FIA GT Series?
PJA
17th June 2009, 9:22
I am waiting for FOTA to release a statement of it’s version of events, then I will read them both.
While I think he made the correct decision, you would have thought Button might have noticed sooner that the triathlon was a week before the British GP. I wonder if he was a backmarker like last year if he would have done the triathlon though.
Last year Hamilton got some criticism for not competing against Button in a triathlon when Hamilton was challenging for a championship so I wonder if we will start to see a Button backlash.
Chaz
17th June 2009, 10:46
The FIA FOTA plot thickens…
Bartholomew
17th June 2009, 11:04
This is called Soviet Style negotiation techniques from the FIA. This is a well-known style of negotiating.
However, this is not Mosley´s fault. Bernie´s company instigates all this from the shadows.
Accidentalmick
17th June 2009, 11:33
@ Bartholomew
Mosely has been bought and paid for by BE since the Brabham days.
VXR
17th June 2009, 13:37
The FIA presidency is a post that is unpaid.
However,Bernie recently ‘bought’ Ferrari for $100,000,000,.Something that they are now beginning to regret.
Accidentalmick
17th June 2009, 14:10
@ VXR
Sorry – that will teach me not to use slang on an international site.
By “bought and paid for” I meant that Mosely is in the FIA solely to do Ecclestone’s bidding and that has been the case for a long time. Any disagreements between them are contrived to confuse onlookers
VXR
17th June 2009, 14:35
It seems to be working!
Bartholomew
17th June 2009, 14:18
I agree with both the teams and the FIA.
What I am really upset about is that due to Bernie´s company CVC taking all that money, I am left with few historical tracks, and instead getting races with empty grandstands, out in places with no interest or history.
Cant the FIA and FOTA unite and get rid of Bernie´s interests ? this is the main point from my view.
Can the teams hire Mosley as chief consultant to keep him employed and happy ? they could pay him a nice big salary, wich could come from a fraction of CVC´s profits, once they all get rid of CVC
The main thing is to escape the slavery of CVC so that we can enjoy beautiful historic tracks ! please ! Indianapolis, Road America, Silverstone, Mugello, Laguna Seca …. what a great future
So there is my vote : Mosley as Vice President of Rules and Development for the new FOTA series !
Cheers !
Bartholomew
17th June 2009, 18:59
Kyalami, Philips Island …
Bigbadderboom
17th June 2009, 14:20
LOLA has thrown their toys out of their pram and told the FIA they have withdrawn their entry!!
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/76265
Another team for a breakaway series?
After reading Max’s response to FOTA’s letter I am beggining to get a really bad feeling about how this will turn out.
VXR
17th June 2009, 14:36
Probably couldn’t afford it.
Bigbadderboom
17th June 2009, 14:46
LOLA have a car in the wind tunnel already, and I am sure there would be major concessions made by potential breakaway partners to aid and assist start up development, both technically and financialy, it may be the only way a new series could get started and sustained. The more i think about it,the more possible/plausable it seems.
Although I just want Max to back down and have a more unrestrictive F1.
VXR
17th June 2009, 17:16
Do you mean “unrestrictive” budget-wise or “unrestrictive” technically,because you would have to be very careful with your answer to that!
DGR-F1
17th June 2009, 17:27
Well, thats the end of any possible ‘Spec’ series speculation – Lola could have made the chassis and Cosworth could have powered them…….
Patrickl
18th June 2009, 1:06
Dallara is involved with Campos. They make IndyCars. Why not F1 cars too? ;)
Even better they could use the IndyCars chassis they have laying around. Imagine racing for a mere $10 million per season.
I like potatoes
18th June 2009, 10:01
Dallara also make F3, World Series and GP2 cars.
Frankly, the current GP2 car’s probably prettier than any F1 car we’ve seen in about 3 years.
I like potatoes
17th June 2009, 18:15
Hmmmm
Interesting musings on Lola pulling out…
http://willthef1journo.wordpress.com/2009/06/17/a-thought-about-lola/
Bartholomew
17th June 2009, 18:48
” Lola might have talking to FOTA to join their new series …”
What is sure is one thing : if there is a new FOTA series, they HAVE to find a way to make things reasonably economical for new teams to join.
These new teams like Lola, have to genuinely feeel like they have a good chance of being competitive, and not a sideshow to the main big manufacturers.
This is absolutely crucial to the success of a new series : it cannot be a procession of cars, in the order of who has more money. The new series would be doomed to failure. There has to be a mixture of old AND new teams, all racing closely.
This I guess coincides with the vision of Mosley in many ways, but now it might be too late …..
VXR
17th June 2009, 18:21
FIA make final offer.
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/76269
sean
18th June 2009, 5:13
Does anyone know the timing of the cut off could we have eight teams not competing in free practice as they are not in next years championship
DGR-F1
18th June 2009, 8:26
I have been thinking that the basic arguments between FIA and FOTA aren’t so very different from those between FISA and Bernie-led FOCA. Not that I remember much about that as I was too young, but I have read up about it since.
In fact, the FISA/FOCA brawl included driver walkouts and teams not turning up to race. I wonder if Max and Bernie are looking over their shoulders wondering if soemthing similar will happen before the end of this season?
Yes, its all about power. Max doesn’t want to give any up, Bernie doesn’t want to lose any revenue. FOTA want more of everything. Though I don’t think they are being as honest as they could be, but then if they are having to play Max at his own game, who could blame them?
The deadline is tomorrow (at the moment). I think that unless Max, Bernie and FOTA realise that changes are necessary, and that sometimes it can be painful, and even fatal to some apparently rock-solid institutions, to have the changes which come with evolution and growth, we are not going to get anything apart from heated arguments going nowhere.
This is now the time for the Fans to step in and demand an end to it all. Any chance of some nice big banners at Silverstone this weekend?
If the people in charge are not able to settle their disputes without ruining the sport for everybody, it makes you wonder why they have to be in charge……