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Post by QPR Report on Jun 15, 2009 19:11:56 GMT
Motor Sport
Crisis about 'power' not rules - EcclestoneRacing series F1 Date 2009-06-15 By Motorsport.com/GMM
F1's political crisis is grinding on with no solution in sight because it is not about disputed rules but "power", according to Bernie Ecclestone. The Formula One teams association FOTA may seem united, the sport's chief executive Bernie Ecclestone told Germany's Auto Motor und Sport, but he believes the major players are differently motivated. "Flavio Briatore wants to create a new series and decide everything," the 78-year-old, who owns a British football club with the Renault boss, said. "Luca di Montezemolo has a problem with the FIA president. With John Howett, I wonder: what does he want? I'm not even sure he knows himself," Ecclestone charged. "Everyone else just wants it all to stop so they can concentrate on the sport once again." Asked why the standoff continues even though the two warring sides seem basically agreed about drastic cost-cutting, Ecclestone explains: "Because it's not about that, it's about power." He does not believe the threats about a breakaway championship are serious. "Can you really imagine going to the boards of these car companies and saying 'I need money for my new car, and I need the same amount again for our new series'? More meetings about the crisis kicked off on Monday, but in the media the offensive continued, with the FIA releasing two statements in quick succession. The first hit out at the apparent total reluctance by some within FOTA to reach a solution, while the second responded to the union of European car manufacturers after it backed the major F1 teams in pushing for better governance. The FIA, however, said it was "surprised" by the reaction when the dispute is about reducing costs, and late in the press statement clarified that ACEA's stance about F1 is in fact not backed as reported by member Porsche. www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=332613&FS=F1
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Post by cpr on Jun 15, 2009 19:56:27 GMT
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Post by QPR Report on Jun 16, 2009 12:46:37 GMT
Meanwhile Eurosport - June 15, 2009 - Ecclestone calls for mud-slinging to stop as divide grows Bernie Ecclestone has called upon Formula 1’s teams and governing body to stop the public ‘mud-slinging’ in which they have been engaged of late over the escalating budget cap war, as the Formula One Teams’ Association (FOTA) meets again today (Monday) in an effort to avert an impending crisis threatening to tear the sport apart. Max Mosley has given the rebel FOTA competitors until this Friday (19 June) to remove the ‘conditional’ nature of their entries to the 2010 world championship, after they submitted their bids contingent upon the FIA President abandoning the introduction of his controversial £40 million budget cap next year, something he has repeatedly insisted is not an option. What’s more, the Englishman seemed to resort to his favoured divide-and-conquer method in naming five of the remaining FOTA teams as ‘conditional’ and the other three – Ferrari, Red Bull Racing and Scuderia Toro Rosso – as being entered regardless, a move seen as a provocation and one that was swiftly countered by angry and blunt denials. Whilst Mosley contends that without his radical cost-cutting initiative no new teams would be willing to join the grid and F1 would ultimately implode as a result of years of extravagant over-expenditure, FOTA’s argument is that it would be simply unworkable for outfits that currently spend as much as £150 million to £200 million a year to slash their annual budget to a mere £40 million in time for the start of next season, advocating rather a more gentle sliding scale of cost reduction. Moreover, the debate has now moved on to the topic of Mosley’s governance of the sport, with the general conviction amongst competitors being that the 69-year-old has become too autocratic and dictatorial and that a revolution is required, believing that forcing through his latest reform without first consulting the teams over it was unacceptable and set a dangerous precedent. Indeed, with the backing of the Board of the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) [see separate story – click here], FOTA has appealed to the FIA’s World Motor Sport Council in what has been seen as an effort to bypass Mosley – and with some calling for the FIA President’s head as he refuses to back down and the spectre of a manufacturer-spearheaded breakaway series looming ever larger should no satisfactory resolution be found to the row, the situation appears ever-more perilous. “The problem with Formula 1 will be solved with a responsible FIA, as we want, or organising our own championship,” Ferrari and FOTA President Luca di Montezemolo told Reuters, pushing for dramatic changes to the present ‘grey’ rules within F1 to ‘prevent the sport [from] being destroyed’. “When you have engines, gearboxes, brands, technology and ability to invest, starting is not difficult.”
FOTA members are due to meet again at Heathrow today to begin a week of talks with the FIA aimed at avoiding a split, something Toyota President John Howett has described as a ‘worst-case scenario’ – but a scenario nonetheless.
Though Mosley has sought to play down the menace of a breakaway series, the FOTA dissenters are adamant that they are ‘not bluffing’ and that in the absence of an agreeable compromise F1 ‘runs a high risk of alienating and losing a number of teams’ – and they are even understood to have held discussions with MotoGP organiser Carmelo Ezpeleta of Dorna in a move that reinforces their credibility and determination.
“The difference this time is that all the big teams are united against Max,” an insider told British newspaper The Times. “The normal divide-and-rule tactics have not worked.”
“All our problems stem from one problem – there isn’t a balanced and correct governance system in place,” added Howett, with Renault F1 managing director Flavio Briatore concurring: “We accept the need to cut costs in Formula 1 and we are happy to have new teams, but not like this. We are confusing our sponsors and the audience.”
Other sources of dispute are the ‘cost commission’ that would be set up to police the capped teams’ budgets, essentially giving the governing body the power to pry into competitors’ financial affairs, with a letter from FOTA to the FIA stating: ‘The publication of absolute team budget figures risks inflicting serious damage to the value of existing teams and has significantly reduced the fees that can be charged to sponsors.’
There is similarly said to be concern about the impartiality or otherwise of prominent FIA steward Alan Donnelly, a man who became embroiled in controversy over the Lewis Hamilton Belgian Grand Prix penalty last year. According to former ITV-F1 commentator James Allen’s internet blog, a letter has been published in Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera in which FOTA complained about Donnelly having allegedly applied pressure on each of the teams individually to sign up unconditionally for 2010 over the weekend of the Turkish Grand Prix.
The FIA has also come under fire, finally, from N.Technology, which claims its entry for next year was not handled responsibly or with due care, with important documents being lost. Formula One Management (FOM) chief executive Ecclestone, however, has called for calm.
“I would ask everyone, instead of throwing mud at each other in public or behind each other’s backs, to just be quiet and let things settle down a bit,” the sport’s commercial rights-holder is quoted as having said by Flagworld.
uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/15062009/23/ecclestone-calls-mud-slinging-stop-divide-grows.html |
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Post by QPR Report on Jun 17, 2009 7:34:14 GMT
And continuing the Racing World Watch... F1 crisis continues to spiral out of control
Date 2009-06-16
By Motorsport.com/GMMFormula One's political crisis continued to spiral out of control on Tuesday, as the FIA reiterated that elements of the FOTA team alliance seem determined to hinder the quest for compromise. The FIA's financial experts met with their counterparts of the Formula One teams association on Monday, but FOTA refused even to discuss the budget cap. "As a result, the meeting could not achieve its purpose of comparing the FIA's rules with the FOTA proposals with a view to finding a common position," said the governing body in a statement. With four days until the 19 June deadline, it seems increasingly clear that neither side will back down, and that major teams, including Ferrari and McLaren, will not enter the 2010 world championship. In addition to its statement about the Monday meeting, the FIA released a nearly 3000-word statement chronicling the dispute with FOTA, and also reams of letter correspondence between the Paris body, Ferrari and the Italian team's lawyers. F1 drivers Felipe Massa and Mark Webber, who both drive for FOTA member teams, said an alternative series should now be considered a serious option. "As the teams appear to be united, then maybe it is time to look at doing something different that could be better for the sport," said Ferrari's Massa. Red Bull's Webber wrote in his BBC column: "We want to drive for the best teams and race against the best drivers. If it's not the FIA Formula One world championship, so be it." Batting in the media for Max Mosley, however, was his friend Gerhard Berger, who told Germany's Auto Motor und Sport that "some men dream of playing Ecclestone and Mosley". But the former Grand Prix winner and team co-owner doubts the threats of a breakaway championship can be followed through. "BMW and Mercedes really have other problems at the moment: like selling cars," said the Austrian. www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=332725&FS=F1 |
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Post by QPR Report on Jun 17, 2009 8:18:27 GMT
And Montezemolo downbeat as crisis hits bottom
Racing series F1
Date 2009-06-17
By Motorsport.com/GMMWhile the F1 world holds its breath for the outcome to the political crisis, Luca di Montezemolo's rhetoric has become suddenly resigned. Friday, when opening practice for the British Grand Prix will take place, is the new deadline by which the rebel FOTA teams must drop their conditions or be deleted from the FIA's 2010 entry list. On Tuesday, the FIA said the Formula One teams association is unwilling to compromise, accusing it of trying to "take over the regulation" of the sport and trying "to expropriate the commercial rights for itself". With a solution seeming further away than ever, Formula One's stakeholders must take seriously the threat that either the FOTA teams will simply leave the sport, or attempt to set up a rival championship. Montezemolo, chairman of the teams' alliance and Ferrari president, warned again that his famous Italian team is prepared to quit the sport if the FIA does not give in to its demands. "We do not know why there is this desire to destroy Formula One," he is quoted as saying by the ANSA news agency. "In May our board decided what our position would be and this has not changed. It is useless to continue these polemics. Everyone will make their own decisions," Montezemolo added. Mercedes' Norbert Haug was asked by German journalists on Tuesday to comment on the worsening situation, but replied that FOTA figures have resolved to stay quiet for now. But he did say: "I hope that in the next days we can report something positive." Former triple world champion Sir Jackie Stewart said he is dismayed that the battle has dragged on in full view of the public for so long. The Scot told the Telegraph that two "multinational corporations" have pleaded with him to intervene. "They said, 'you have to tell them, you have to stop this dirty-laundry-in-public business. It's absolutely hideous and none of our clients like it'," said Stewart, 70. www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=332868&FS=F1 |
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Post by QPR Report on Jun 17, 2009 8:27:15 GMT
Lauda blames egos for 'absurd' F1 feud Racing series F1 Date 2009-06-16 By Motorsport.com/GMM Niki Lauda has slammed Formula One's political crisis as the making of "egocentric managers" engaging in "personal feuds". The straight-talking former triple world champion fears that the players in the dispute between existing teams and the FIA's Max Mosley are no longer focused on the sport as opposed to their own agendas. "The real absurdity is that everyone agrees in principle about the problem of reducing costs," Lauda, 60, told the Stuttgarter Zeitung. Also exasperated by the crisis is the F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone, who this week predicts "more talking" and "little progress". "With all these meetings, I should have bought shares in a mineral water company," the 78-year-old joked dryly in interview with Germany's Auto Motor und Sport. Austrian Lauda, however, believes the real tragedy is the apparent eagerness by both sides to play out their battle in full glare of the world's media. "Everyone is worried most about losing face, and because of that everything could fail. That would be the biggest joke of all," the great Austrian remarked. Lauda is most baffled by Ferrari, for whom he won two of his three drivers' titles. The Italian team has played a leading role in the struggle against Mosley's rules and governance. "They are the only team with a FIA contract to 2012, and in the past years they received 100 million euros more than anyone else," he said. Lauda also slammed the threats about an alternative championship as "laughable" and "totally unrealistic". On the entire affair, he added: "I have never experienced anything as counter-productive as this, in terms of the external effect. "It is a miracle anyone is still watching: these quarrels interest nobody." www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=332720&FS=F1 |
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Post by QPR Report on Jun 17, 2009 12:46:28 GMT
Motor racing F1 crisis deepens
Budget cap remains in place for 2010
Alan Baldwin, ReutersRenault boss Flavio Briatore. The Renault F1 team made it clear they will not accept FIA's new rules for the 2010 championship. Formula One moved closer to the edge yesterday when the governing body said crisis talks with teams had broken down and next year's controversial rules, including a budget cap, remained in place. Financial experts from the teams association (FOTA) and International Automobile Federation (FIA) had met on Monday to try and overcome a standoff over the cap that threatens to tear the sport apart. "Unfortunately, the FOTA representatives announced that they had no mandate to discuss the FIA's 2010 financial regulations. Indeed, they were not prepared to discuss regulation at all," the FIA said in a statement. "As a result, the meeting could not achieve its purpose of comparing the FIA's rules with the FOTA proposals with a view to finding a common position. "In default of a proper dialogue, the FOTA financial proposals were discussed but it became clear that these would not be capable of limiting the expenditure of a team which had the resources to outspend its competitors. Another financial arms race would then be inevitable. "The FIA Financial Regulations therefore remain as published." Champions Ferrari have threatened to walk out after an unbroken 60 years in Formula One if an optional £40 million budget cap, designed to help new teams enter and existing ones weather the credit crunch, is not scrapped. Renault, Toyota and the two Red Bull teams have also said they cannot accept the rules. In a lengthy statement issued later, the FIA accused FOTA of wanting to take over the sport. "FOTA, made up of participants who come and go as it suits them, has set itself two clear objectives: to take over the regulation of Formula One from the FIA and to expropriate the commercial rights for itself," the FIA said. "These are not objectives which the FIA can accept." The governing body added that the sport would have a full starting grid in 2010 with everyone competing under the same regulations. The FIA published its 2010 entry list last Friday that listed Ferrari and the Red Bull teams as confirmed participants, against their wishes, and five other existing teams as provisional. The five were given until Friday to make their entries unconditional, with a warning that other would-be entrants were waiting in the wings to join the three new teams already confirmed. Hopes had risen that Monday's meeting might reach an agreement after the FIA said they felt there had been a "large measure of agreement" in talks last Thursday with representatives of Ferrari, Toyota, Red Bull and Brawn GP. "I think there are still the opportunities this week to resolve the issues and if the issues are resolved then we will be happy to enter," Brawn team owner Ross Brawn had told reporters on Monday. However the FIA also warned that there was an "element" within FOTA that was "determined to prevent any agreement being reached." www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20090617/sport/f1-crisis-deepens
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Post by londonranger on Jun 17, 2009 13:09:13 GMT
fFav, sell out and come and sit and watch QPR. You need a quieter life.
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Post by QPR Report on Jun 18, 2009 20:23:56 GMT
Meanwhile in the world of racing Motor Authority - Less than 24 hours left until deadline for 2010 Formula 1 disputes Posted Today, 12:28 PM by Kenneth Hall Reports indicate that at least two manufacturers could be leaving the grid According to the latest rumor, the current political crisis in formula one could result in the loss of two manufacturer-backed teams. With this week's negotiations not yet resulting in a compromise being found, it seems likely that the Friday deadline is in danger of passing. If five teams do not sign and return letters that are being sent to them individually by the FIA, they will be deleted from the 2010 entry list and therefore locked off the grid for 2010. It is suggested that the barred teams could later buy one of the smaller new entries and therefore ultimately race next year, but the latest rumor is that the teams' alliance FOTA is likely nearing its last days. A breakaway world championship is being dismissed by astute observers as nothing more than a threat, meaning that only those who do not intend to race in a premier open-wheel category in 2010 will let the Friday deadline pass without signing up. Only McLaren, BMW, Renault, Toyota and Brawn are listed as provisional on the initial FIA entry list, as Ferrari and Red Bull's two teams are bound to compete according to (albeit disputed) existing agreements. Of the aforementioned five, it is rumored that McLaren, Brawn and BMW are more eager to split with FOTA and sign up for 2010 rather than risk being left off the grid in the event that a breakaway is not established. For FOTA members to split, it will require the unanimous agreement of the Geneva-based alliance, following the recent penning of a $50m bond forbidding unauthorized defection. For Ferrari and the Red Bull teams to pull out of F1, they risk breaching not only disputed agreements with the FIA, but separate ones with Formula One Management, potentially sparking costly legal action. If McLaren, Brawn and BMW join Williams, Force India, Ferrari and the Red Bull teams on the unconditional 2010 entry list, Renault and Toyota would be isolated outside F1 and with only four cars to field in a rival series. Therefore, if they are not willing to accept the FIA rules, they would simply walk away from formula one, or turn to existing alternate competitions such as Le Mans. In conversation with Switzerland's Blick, Bernie Ecclestone agrees this is a likely outcome. Asked about Friday's deadline, the F1 chief executive said: "Some of the five teams, which wanted to register but have not yet been accepted, will probably come in. And the others will do what they want to do." Gerhard Berger agrees that if a resolution is not found, carmakers will walk away. "They will use the splitting of formula one as an invitation to say goodbye," the former driver and team owner told Germany's Auto Motor und Sport. Niki Lauda believes that the FIA and FOTA continuing the standoff beyond Friday risks destroying the sport. "If they do not agree, then neither of them have futures," he said. www.motorauthority.com/24-hours-left-until-deadline-for-2010-formula-1-disputes.html |
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