The Formula One Teams Association has been rocked by the resignation of two of their most high-profile members amid an ongoing row over how best to reduce costs in the sport.
Ferrari and Red Bull Racing have confirmed their intention to withdraw from the organisation, with Ferrari claiming “FOTA’s drive has run its course”.
Ferrari and Red Bull have been critical of FOTA’s failure to bring the teams together in agreement on the sport’s Resource Restriction Agreement, which aims to cap the spiralling costs of competing in the sport.
Both teams insist they remain committed to helping F1 reduce costs.
A FOTA spokeswoman confirmed the withdrawals and said: “We are trying to arrange a meeting to sit the teams around the table and see where this takes us.” Sky News
Although neither team was initially willing to comment on the situation, Ferrari has now issued a statement explaining its decision and suggesting that a ‘stalemate’ within the body over certain issues was key to its move.
“It was a difficult decision and a great deal of thought went into it,” said the statement. “It was taken reluctantly after analysing the current situation and the stalemate when it came to debate on some issues that were at the core of why the association was formed, indeed with Ferrari and Luca di Montezemolo as the main instigator and promoter of ideas.
“It’s not by chance that the President of the Maranello company held that same position and job title within FOTA up to the end of 2009.
“Some of the major achievements of the association during these years, also worked out in conjunction with the FIA, centred around cost reduction, which was of significant benefit to everyone, the big teams and the small ones.
“Ferrari was on the front line in this area, even before the birth of FOTA and it intends to continue down this route to ensure the sustainability of the sport in the long term. Now however, it is necessary to find some new impetus to move it along because FOTA’s drive has run its course, despite the excellent work of current President, Martin Whitmarsh in trying to reach agreement between the various positions for the common good.” Yahoo! Eurosport UK
The Italian team said Formula 1 is going through a delicate period “like the rest of the world.”
Like Ferrari, Red Bull, the reigning constructors’ champion, has been disappointed by FOTA’s failure to bring teams together over cost-cutting strategies. But it said it will “remain committed to finding a solution regarding cost-saving in Formula One.”
Last season, FOTA represented 11 of the 12 teams on the F1 grid, with Hispania Racing the only one not in the organization. Washington Post
UPDATE: December 8, 2011 10:30 am
Sauber followed in the footsteps of Red Bull and Ferrari Thursday by becoming the third team in the last week to announce their withdrawal from the Formula One Teams’ Association (FOTA).
The Swiss marque elected not to divulge their reasons for leaving the umbrella group, which was formed in 2008 to help teams during negotiations with the sport’s governing body and F1’s commercial rights holders.
“Last week the Sauber F1 Team declared its departure from the Formula One Teams’ Association FOTA,” read a statement from Sauber. “We have explained the reasons for the decision to FOTA.”
At present, eight of the 12 teams on the grid are still in FOTA. Hispania left the organization at the end of their debut season in F1 in 2010. CNN International
Sauber’s departure broadens a dispute over how to police cost-cutting measures in the sport. FOTA members have so far been unable to agree upon a new ‘Resource Restriction Agreement’ to follow the one that was drawn up in 2009.
Ferrari, who provide Sauber with engines, and Red Bull announced last week that they had given notice of withdrawal. Backmarkers HRT quit FOTA back in January.
If they cannot be persuaded to reconsider, the departures might also weaken the teams’ collective bargaining power in negotiating a bigger share of the sport’s commercial revenues. SkySports
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