John Shiels

What do you think?


Mosley Warns F1 Manufacturers of March 31 Deadline
Written by: RACER staff
London, UK – 3/1/2006 The GPMA manufacturers risk being frozen out of the new regulation talks for '08 if they don't commit to F1 before the end of this month, Mosley has warned. (LAT Photo)

The GPMA manufacturers - BMW (Sauber), Mercedes-Benz (McLaren), Honda, Renault and Toyota - have 30 days to commit to Formula 1 beyond '07 or risk being out of the championship in 2008, FIA president Max Mosley warned in a letter unveiled today by autosport.com.

In an agreement signed last year, the GPMA automakers had committed to not make a decision about the possibility of a breakaway series until next September.

In the letter, Mosley justified the early deadline as necessary to allow for time for discussions regarding the new cost-saving rules for '08.

"The reason we are proposing this relatively early closing date is that both the Sporting and Technical regulations may need some limited fine tuning before they are finalized, and we intend to give the teams that are committed to participating at least 18 months' notice of changes which may affect the design of the cars," Mosley stated in the letter.

"This means that many of the 2008 regulations must be fixed no later than 30 June 2006. Once the entries have closed, the participants in the 2008 Championship will be known, enabling the FIA and those teams to use the three months from 31 March to 30 June 2006 for the discussion and agreement of any final adjustments to the regulations. Naturally, discussions on the fine tuning of the 2008 regulations will only involve those that intend to participate in the Championship."

"The FIA very much hopes that all the teams and manufacturers competing in this year's Championship will also enter for 2008. Some of the sporting changes proposed for 2008 may be seen as radical, as are some aspects of the Technical Regulations already adopted. However, the objective is to reduce costs, improve the spectacle and at the same time, maintain and, where possible, increase current safety levels."

Earlier this year, Mosley revealed that six squads are committed to F1's new Concorde Agreement from '08 to '12 - Ferrari, Williams, Red Bull and Midland have publicly announced so, while Toro Rosso and Super Aguri are believed to also have already signed with Bernie Ecclestone's FOM, which controls the sport's commercial rights.

Chalky

Do not believe they will split with Ferrari already signed. I believe this issue is about the money. The teams want a greater share of the funds generated by Bernie E. Bernie E is to F1 what the France family is to NASCAR!

Bink

I don't think anyone involved in F1 can afford a split right now - or in the forseeable future.
It's proven time and again that splits create enmity between all participants and the viewing public.
I think Max wants to put this to rest and get on with the rule changes and F1s future. He's retiring soon? The end of the Max and Bernie show is on the horizon.
FWIW.

AU N EGL

Dosn't King Burnie's family Trust own all the voting stock of F1 Managnemet i.e. GPMA and 51% of the non-voting stock?
Where the big banks most German banks own 48% of the non-voting stock and 1% is split between the teams?? A very rediculus and lop sided ownership.

I thought I read that the TV revinew splitting was only a small portion of the problems with the current Concord Agreement and that ownership and technical development were other parts of the disagreements.

and we wonder why it is called silly season

ghoffman

NHL strikes have virtually killed hockey. Now the NFL has decided that a $105M yearly personel budget is not enough. IRL and Cart destroyed open wheel racing, SCCA destroyed TransAm, now this. F1 used to be interesting, but with the junk tires and the stupid rules about one tire-one race, new engine formula, and Indy fiascos, F1 is silly. NASCAR is the only game in town that works, but there were many open seats at Fontana and Daytona, and with Toyota coming in perhaps that will kill NASCAR too. Greed seems to be everywhere.

BrianCunningham

IRL vs CART comes to mind

MitchAlsup

While I happen to think that BMW (Sauber), Mercedes-Benz (McLaren), Honda, Renault and Toyota are simply dragging their feet with respect to 08 and beyond;

What would F1 be with just Ferrari and the back markers?

I suspect that the teams are simply dragging their feet for a better deal that is currently on the table.

Having this many teams leave F1 would simply eliminate F1 from being the pinnicle of racing (if it even still is--excepting for the outlays of money), and would likely result in F1 ceasing to exist.

I also happen to think that Bernie and Max have too much power and that there are too many rules. I remember when the F1 rule book was A) the car fits in this box, B) the engine has a maximum displacement of x.x litres.

Bink

More News today from Bernie -> "Ecclestone expects agreement with GPMA before Sunday"
07 March 2006




http://www.f1racing.net/en/news.php?newsID=111095

DaveL82

They need to do something. F1 has become so boring as of late. The new series that runs on OLN that pits cars representing countires has been much more fun to watch.

My wife and I have been huge F1 fans for 20 years however its getting to the point where we don't even bother to see when the races are on. Guess we'll watch my old VHS tapes from the 80's and 90's.

Dave