The white flags were going up over the Formula One battlefield yesterday when Ferrari led the rest of the teams back into the pits where Messrs Ecclestone and Mosley rule supreme.
For weeks, the foot soldiers of the revolution at Ferrari have been trying to convince us that the threat by Luca Di Montezemolo, the company president, to leave Formula One because of the FIA’s plans for a budget cap was serious. But few people outside Maranello believed it and last night the joke doing the rounds in the corridors of Formula One power was: “How many reverse gears does a Ferrari have?”
After hours of negotiations among themselves, the teams under the banner of the Formula One Teams Association (Fota) led by the Scuderia, submitted their entries for next season in time for yesterday’s deadline. They did so, however, on a conditional basis. They said they would race next season so long as a new accord — the so-called Concorde Agreement — was signed between them and Bernie Ecclestone, the commercial rights-holder, and the FIA, setting out the way the sport will be run until 2012.
Click Here For More Formula 1 Photos
“The renewal of the agreement will provide security for the future of the sport by binding all parties in a formal relationship that will ensure stability via sound governance,” the teams said. (A potential sticking point here is that Ecclestone wants the commitment from the teams to Formula One to be for five more years, not two). Times Online
The Formula One Teams Association was expected to deliver application forms on behalf of nine teams — Brawn, BMW Sauber, Ferrari, Force India, McLaren, Red Bull, Renault, Toro Rosso and Toyota — at the Geneva office of governing body FIA. The 10th team, Williams, lodged its entry earlier this week.
Ferrari, Renault, Red Bull, Toyota and Toro Rosso have threatened to pull out of F1 next season if FIA goes ahead with plans to introduce the $60 million budget cap.
Under a reported compromise, the 2010 season could start with teams operating under a $140 million cap in exchange for sharing technology with new teams. The original proposal for a cap of $60 million would be deferred until 2011.
FOTA secretary-general Simone Perillo said the organization would not comment before the deadline passed. The Associated Press
It should be noted that Ferrari have managed to shift Mosley massively from his original proposal, namely a £30m cap. That changed to a £40m cap, with engine costs, driver salaries and hospitality and marketing excluded, meaning the actual figure was closer to £100m.
Now it is ostensibly £85m (with no choice to opt out) for a year, but that really equates to £145m when the extras are added. For example, Kimi Raikkonen alone earns £30m a year at Ferrari.
Two prospective new teams, US Grand Prix Engineering and Campos, have already applied for inclusion next season.
Under the compromise deal, proposed by Mercedes, the existing teams have undertaken to help out any new entrants by supplying cheap parts and technical expertise. As for Toyota, they are looking for an elegant exit. Their Formula One project has failed to deliver fruit, despite annual expenditure of around £300m.
With their fellow Japanese manufacturers Honda having withdrawn last December, they can depart without too much embarrassment at home. Grand prix racing can live without them, if not Ferrari. Daily Mail
| 
|