FIA and FOTA fall out again

We may all have been a bit premature in celebrating the formula one peace deal announced 2 weeks ago as it has been slowly unravelling ever since. Within two days FIA President Max Mosley decided that he might just stay on as FIA President after all and it's been gently downhill ever since.

The latest development is FOTA, the teams' association, walking out of a technical rules meeting yesterday. The FIA's statement on the subject was short and to the point, suggesting not surprisingly that it was all FOTA's fault.

FOTA's version of events, however, had more detail and, more's to the point, more credible information.

The FIA is saying, as far as I can see, that FOTA are not entered for next year after all, and that if there are to be changes to the regulations in accordance with the Paris deal, then the new teams as well as Force India and Williams, need to agree them. If that is the case, and FOTA were told they had no rights within the meeting then it was a complete waste of their time being there. The FIA might have cast them as the baddies for walking out, but I can see teams' point.

There was certainly no mention that the Paris deal was in any way conditional in the statement issued by the World Motor Sport Council. Nor was there any figment of ambiguity in the entry list.

This all seems to me like an increasingly discredited Max Mosley stirring it. He clearly went back from the WMSC meeting where the deal was struck, got his hatchet out of the cupboard and has been looking for places to bury it ever since.

Is it a coincidence that the entire autosport press are now talking about this new row and not about the allegations about FIA Chief Steward Alan Donnelly, or about the alleged pressure put on new teams to sign up to an engine deal with Cosworth?? It seems completely bizarre that teams such as Lola and Aston Martin saw their bids rejected. Max had certainly been keen on a big deal with Cosworth at the end of last year.

Not for the first time, I wonder if the fact that the management of Formula 1 is exclusively male contributes to the turbulent and often aggressive nature of its decision making process.

Anyway, this drama clearly has some way to play out. We may yet see a breakaway, although I think the teams would possibly be better advised to quietly set about ensuring that if Mosley should stand again in October, that he has credible opposition. The teams can't do that themselves, because unseating Mosley will require a coalition across all levels of FIA regulated motorsport, but they can play their part in securing a new president with a more pragmatic way of doing things.

Ari Vatanen, the former rally driver and MEP, has had his name put in the frame but his path to the presidency against a truculent Mosley will not be easy as the process for re-election strongly favours the incumbent. While the requirement to have 22 Cabinet members is supposedly to ensure no protest candidates (and why should they be outlawed anyway?), it may be that key figures would not be willing to publicly side against an incumbent in such an obvious way in case they have to end up working with him again.

I think that F1 would be better without Mosley in it from now. He appears to be the main obstacle to a lasting peace at the moment.

You have to have some sympathy for Ross Brawn, one of the few consistently reasonable voices in F1, who apparently said in yesterday's meeting to Charlie Whiting, who was delivering the bad news from the FIA "Isn't this all a bit silly. Can't we just get on with it."

Mosley threatens to scupper F1 Deal

Well, I said the other day that I wouldn't believe that Max Mosley was actually leaving the FIA until I saw him walking along the Place de la Concorde with his belongings in a red and white spotted hankie. An unnamed team principal has apparently told the press that he would believe it only "when I see the stake through his heart".

It's reported that the deal is now in jeopardy because Max has taken exception to some of the things that FOTA members have said to the press. They are supposed to have implied that he is stepping down immediately and not in October and that he was dictatorial. He got himself in such a tizz that he was moved to write to FOTA asking for an apology and hinting that he would "keep his options open" if they didn't give him one.

I have no idea where he's getting this from. If you look at the full transcript of FOTA's press conference yesterday, they're actually more generous about him than he deserves. They clearly accept that he's in place until October and they acknowledge that they have no say in the appointment of a successor, but would prefer someone independent of the teams. If anyone had any right to be upset about these comments,surely it would be potential candidates Jean Todt and Ron Dennis.

I guess the only thing Mosley can do to upset the applecart is to say that he's not going after all. Now that the rules have been agreed for next year along the lines FOTA wanted, by the World Motorsport Council he can't really go chopping and changing them at will. He also makes the assumption that if he decides to stay, he will be re-elected, but a strong campaign from a credible challenger could put paid to that ambition. Former rally world champion and MEP Ari Vatanen's name has been put in the frame

It seems to me that Mosley's latest ramblings are more to do with separation anxiety at the prospect of losing the almost absolute power that he's enjoyed for 16 years rather than having any basis in fact. You have to question the motives of someone who says that he's prepared to take on FOTA "even if this leads to difficulties in the sport". A clear case of misplaced ego being put above the interests of the sport.

It might actually have been better if he had stood down immediately rather than have this 4 month period of limbo where he can attempt to disrupt the newly formed peace on a whim.

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Teams triumph as peace breaks out in Formula One

I've waited a while before blogging because I wanted to make sure that it wasn't all Max Mosley spin, but it seems that peace has broken out in Formula One.

It looks like both sides are trying to claim victory but the detail in the FIA statement bears a remarkable resemblance to what the teams wanted. Ferrari seem happy with the outcome and have received the assurances they wanted about future governance of the sport. I particularly liked the phrase "to avoid continuous change being decided by one person alone." Can't think who they might have meant!

On the face of it, with talk of cost reductions being phased in over two years, and next year being run on this year's regulations, it looks very much as if FOTA has triumphed. As an added bonus, it also appears that Max Mosley is going to stand down, which is fabulous news for the sport. I won't believe it until I see him walking down the Place de la Concorde (Paris HQ of the FIA) with his belongings in a cardboard box and someone else actually in the role of President, though. He's changed his mind on this so many times that it's not so much a u-turn but a spin that young Nelson Piquet Jr would be proud of.

I'm glad that all the major players are now committed to the sport for at least another 3 years. A FOTA breakaway could have worked, but it's better that things are resolved. Mind you, the FOTA draft timetable leaked the other day had favourite circuits like Adelaide, Suzuka and Imola on it, as well as taking Monaco off F1 and having a race in Helsinki. Whether this was someone's wish list on the back of an envelope or a serious timetable we'll never know, but maybe Bernie should have a look at it in more detail.

Let's hope that the only ferocious fights we have for the next wee while are on the track as the focus shifts back to what's important - the racing.

The Max Mosley and Bernie Ecclestone School of Charm - Lesson 1

Twitter has been buzzing today with reports from people at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, including Nickie. She posted this fabulous picture which shows off their very professional looking banner and t-shirts supporting the breakaway teams (FOTA) and politely calling for the removal of the FIA President and the commercial rights holder. They were standing near the pit lane exit.

It's not difficult to sympathise with Nickie and many other fans when you read what the said Max and Bernie have been up to in the last day or so.

Imagine there's a crisis in your world, you've seriously pissed off some key players -in fact, most of the people you work with. They've had enough of your antics and are going to leave you high and dry because you have been such a thrawn, glaikit numpty. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Scots vernacular, that means a stubborn, ignorant twit. Not only that, but virtually the entire world is pointing the finger at you and blaming you for what's happened. So what do you do?

You would think that you'd try to find some way of making amends, bringing people together, trying to move forward. But then if you were that sensible, chances are this crisis wouldn't have happened in the first place.

No, instead, you try to find a fig leaf of legal protection to hide behind and then give a long interview to the media in which you dismiss the people who are going to walk away from you as "loonies".

That is exactly how FIA President Max Mosley described some people within FOTA to the BBC. You can see the interview here. The BBC's fabulous anchor man gives the impression of handing him just enough rope. The best bits are between about 10 and 13 minutes in.

It's appalling that he could be so dismissive of people who have decades of experience in the sport and whose talents and expertise have built it up to be the worldwide phenomenon that it is now. The whole interview has the tone of a stern parent whose children have run away from home saying "Och, they'll come home when they're hungry." How patronising can you get?

To add insult to injury, you then have the commercial rights holder Bernie Ecclestone, in a live tv interview on the BBC saying, when confronted with the fact that the drivers have so far agreed with FOTA, that "drivers don't think". It was quite funny that he said this in front of David Coulthard, who has had a long and successful driving career and is still the Red Bull test driver.

Thee comments just show the lack of respect Max and Bernie have for the other key players in Formula One. They clearly think that they alone are responsible for its success. It's no wonder the sport's in crisis. I'm surprised the teams have put up with this sort of treatment for so long!

In other F1 news today, the Guardian reports on how the BBC is hopeful of getting out of its contract to show F1 if FOTA breakaway. Ha ha!

Times F1 journalist Ed Gorman tells us why Max Mosley should go.

And lovely Ross tells us F1 belongs to the people

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F1 - Teams outwit Mosley with new race series

Although I knew the F1 rebels (who actually comprise 80% of the current teams) were meeting last night, I reckoned that nothing much would happen after I went to bed at half past ten. How wrong could I be? After midnight, the Formula One Teams Association announced that Max Mosley, who has been trashing them all week rather than trying to bridge the gap between them, could basically go forth and multiply because they were going to form their own race series. Fed up at Mosley's dictatorial governance of the sport, they have decided to walk away and form their own championship. It may or may not be significant that Lola, who were in prime position to take one of the five places of the teams which had been given conditional entries for next year, withdrew its entry the other day. Whether that is because they wanted to join the FOTA series, or whether they'd just had enough of Max Mosley is yet to be seen.

The extent of Max Mosley's failures in his governance of Formula One cannot be over-emphasised. It's quite some achievement to get all of these teams working together. Only 2 months ago, they were at each others' throats over the issue of Brawn's, Red Bull's and Toyota's double diffuser which the others all wished they had invented. Now, they are together enough to jump ship as one. I can't think of a better analysis of the background to all of this than that provided here and here in the last few days by Doctorvee and would recommend that you read what he has to say.

I think the main reason I'm as passionately behind the FOTA cause as I am is because Ross Brawn is with them. The Lib Dems have St Vincent of Cable, F1 has St Ross of Brawn, it really is that simple! Ross has decades of experience in F1, both in huge organisations (Ferrari), as an employee in an independent team (Williams) and now as owner of his own team, so his perspective is unique. His office is hardly Hissy Fit Central, he's a master strategist and he will have reached his conclusion in a calm, rational and informed manner. As far as I'm concerned, his judgement is trustworthy and credible. I have a soft spot for Brawn as the architect behind the Schumacher success both literally in building him fabulous cars and in making the race day judgemnet calls on strategy. When Rubens Barrichello, who I liked at Ferrari (and for that matter, Jordan before, went to BAR Honda, a bit of my affection went with him and when Honda signed Ross Brawn a few years later, a huge chunk of the rest of it followed.

Five of the breakaway teams are taking a significant risk. For two of them, Brawn and McLaren, racing is their raison d'etre and the jobs of hundreds of people depend on them competing in a championship. They could have just crossed their fingers behind their backs, muttered under their breath and signed up for Mosley's championship but they didn't. You have to assume that they had good reason for not doing so.

I am annoyed that the BBC, whose F1 coverage has until now been perfect, have been portraying the dispute today. They have implied that it's only the FIA and Mosley that want to control costs. The teams have in fact put forward comprehensive proposals for cost reduction and Mosley has simply refused to listen or to compromise in any way.

The biggest sign that Mosley was never interested in finding a solution is his refusal to FOTA's request to move the deadline for unconditional entry from today until 1 July. The teams were bound to stick together as they are reported to have signed a bond at the beginnign of June for $50 million that they would not break ranks within 30 days. Mosley therefore knew that filing unconditional entries now, unless they all agreed, would be financially crippling for any team.

Sara and Charlotte, neither of whom are particularly F1 fans, have made worthwhile contributions on this today. I'm so caught up in it all that it's useful to have a different persective on it.

I'm actually glad, in a week where we have seen a series of destructive statements from the FIA and a sniffy we're not getting involved in this statement and counter statement lark from FOTA, that the teams have taken the initiative and done something positive. While I'd much rather see all the teams compete in F1 next year, I'm glad that FOTA walked away to hopefully form something better before Mosley publicly assassinated Formula 1 by throwing its stars out. It looks like FOTA, far from being 10 middle aged men in a room whinging, have actually managed to secure a coalition of drivers and sponsors to back them up.

It well may be that the FIA has the equivalent of men in grey suits who will talk sense into Mosley and a compromise will be reached, but at the moment, it looks like all the best teams are leaving to form their own series and F1 as we have known it up until now will be left with a couple of also rans and the equivalent of a few people pulled in off the street to make up the numbers. I had a horrible thought at one point that it was like when the SDP split, with the majority merging with the Liberal and the rest forming the continuing SDP. Whatever my political differences with David Owen, though, it would be far too harsh on him to compare him to Mosley.

It's not been lost on me either that the only mention the fans have had in all of this has been from the FOTA side. Ferrari mentioned fans on their website the other day and the FOTA statement specifically talked about lower priced tickets for their series. In the only real test of opinion, an internet poll on a fansite with over 2000 votes, FOTA's lead, at 83% to 7% was almost embarrassing.

No doubt there will be lots of drama to come. It's a pity that this will all overshadow the last Grand Prix at Silverstone - although, of course, it will surely have a slot on its calendar for the new series, so it may be au revoir rather than adieu on Sunday.

It'll be interesting to see what will happen with the tv rights - I can't imagine for a minute that broadcasting companies across the globe paid exorbitant sums to watch teams nobody had ever heard of while the likes of Ferrari and McLaren and all the famous drivers were elsewhere. I just hope it's all going to be available on easily accessible television. I already pay the infernal wickedness of Sky more than enough money for my basic package, thank you very much.

It's just being reported by the BBC that the FIA are going to resort to the courts, accusing FOTA in general and Ferrari in particular of breaking, amongst other things, competition law. We'll see how that pans out, but it's not what you'd call a constructive move. It's entirely predictable that the FIA react like this - Mosley is a bully and FOTA are well rid of his poisonous and dictatorial leadership.

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