At a meeting of the Formula One Teams’ Association (FOTA) at Suzuka, a novel cost-cutting initiative for the forthcoming winter period was discussed.  FOTA deputy chairman John Howett told reporters after the meeting that several teams support the concept of organizing a single event to officially launch all the cars ahead of the 2010 season. Traditionally, teams reveal their new cars to the world’s media at individual events.  But with the new era of limited testing, most teams are targeting the same period in January to have their new cars completed and ready to launch.

Also briefly discussed at the meeting was the issue of unanimously agreeing to allow a guaranteed 14th team entry for BMW Sauber’s new owner Qadbak. Sir Frank Williams confirmed his opposition to extending the grid from the traditional 13 teams.  “It’s illogical to change the rules suddenly for one extra person,” he said, adding that Sauber may still be able to race next year if any of the new teams do not make it to Bahrain next March. “They may have a chance of getting in based on the gossip that’s going around,” Williams said.  He said his reluctance is also based on the fact that almost nothing is known publicly about Qadbak, a consortium of anonymous wealthy families.

Team US F1 has become the first of the new outfits to formally apply to join the Formula One Teams’ Association.

FOTA currently consists of eight of the current teams, with Williams and Force India having been suspended from the organization following their decision to lodge entries to the 2010 championship amid the summer threats of a breakaway series.

F1’s three new teams, US F1, Campos Grand Prix and Manor Grand Prix, have now all been told that they are welcome to join FOTA and have been informed about the procedures by which they can become members.

US F1 is the first outfit to formally accept the invitation and request membership, with its application due to be examined by FOTA’s executive committee at the Italian Grand Prix at Monza.

Discussions between FOTA and Williams and Force India are also ongoing about their future positions. Force India COO Simon Roberts said after the Belgian Grand Prix that he would discuss the matter with team owner Vijay Mallya soon.

“I think we’ve been invited back in,” he told Autosport. “I talked to Vijay earlier. We have participated whenever we can. We complied with all of the shutdown restrictions and we’re quite happy with that.

“To be honest, we’ve been really busy. Before the shutdown it was fine because we knew what was happening, but we’ve been struggling to pick it back up. Now we’ve had this result we can relax a bit, discuss it with Vijay and take up that offer.”

Williams’ position appears to be slightly different, with the team admitting that it was not a given that it would rejoin FOTA.

Team boss Frank Williams speaking about his outfit’s relationship with FOTA: “It is a little arms’ length but it is not hostile.”

“We had a difficulty because we chose to sign (our 2010 entry) early, and in truth, we signed the Concorde Agreement early. That is because most of our sponsors’ condition is that we are a member of the official FIA F1 world championship and the promoters’ Concorde Agreement.”

Representatives of all FOTA teams attended a meeting of the Sporting Working Group at the Nürburgring today.

During the course of this meeting, the team managers were informed by Mr Charlie Whiting of the FIA that, contrary to previous agreements, the eight FOTA teams are not currently entered into the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship and have no voting rights in relation to the technical and sporting regulations thereof.

It will be remembered that all eight active FOTA members were included on the “accepted” entry list as endorsed by the FIA World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) and communicated by FIA press statement on June 24.

In light of these claims, the FOTA representatives requested a postponement of today’s meetings. This was rejected on the grounds that no new Concorde Agreement would be permitted before a unanimous approval of the 2010 regulations was achieved.

However, it is clear to the FOTA teams that the basis of the 2010 technical and sporting regulations was already established in Paris.

As endorsed by the WMSC and clearly stated in the FIA press statement of 24 June “the rules for 2010 onwards will be the 2009 regulations as well as further regulations agreed prior to 29 April 2009”. At no point in the Paris discussions was any requirement for unanimous agreement on regulations change expressed. To subsequently go against the will of the WMSC and the detail of the Paris agreement puts the future of Formula 1 in jeopardy.

As a result of these statements, the FOTA representatives at the subsequent Technical Working Group were not able to exercise their rights and therefore had no option other than to terminate their participation.

The FOTA members undertook the Paris agreement and the subsequent discussions in good faith and with a desire to engage with all new and existing teams on the future of Formula One.

photo credit & press release ©fota

Grand Prix racing fans will be consulted more about future rule changes, claims a leading figure from the Formula One Teams’ Association (FOTA).

Ahead of meetings scheduled for the Nurburgring from tomorrow to discuss framing the 2010 regulations, McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh reckons that the input of fans will become vital for the longer term health of the sport.

In a video interview produced by McLaren, Whitmarsh suggests that FOTA embarked with the intention of listening to what fans wanted – something that he believes put it on a collision course with the FIA and F1’s commercial rights holders.

“FOTA set out to conduct the first proper audience surveys, which were an exciting piece of work,” explained Whitmarsh.

“The first time we went out we didn’t just ask the ardent fans, we asked those with a passing interest in F1 – what is it that they wanted from F1? How could we make it better? What did they want from the show? What did they want from the technology?

“I think that process started to challenge perhaps, wrongly in the minds of the commercial rights holder and the governing body, and inevitably there led to differences of opinion and philosophy about how we should take the sport forward.”

FOTA did reach an agreement with the FIA last month about future rules for F1, but there remains some uncertainty about the immediate situation after Max Mosley expressed anger at what he felt were deliberate attempts by the teams’ body to mislead the media.

Whitmarsh said he hoped the future would see greater cooperation between teams and the FIA – but said the priority would always be doing what was best for the fans.

Speaking about the recent accord with the FIA, Whitmarsh said: “Some of the proposals that were unacceptable to the teams were dropped, and hopefully that is the start.

“There is no absolute in F1 as it is a complex business with all sorts of politics and egos, but hopefully it is part of a process where we can now start to build and work together.

“That is not just the teams, but also the governing body and the commercial rights holder to improve the sport.

“So what does it mean for the fans? It means we should be more actively listening to them. A lot of changes have occurred in F1 over the recent years that haven’t really taken into account the wishes of fans. We haven’t properly brought those into the thought structure and hopefully in the future we will see much more of that.”

©jonathan noble/autosport.com

photo credit ©fota