F1 teams to set up rival series

The FIA were asking for this for a long time. It's kinda sad with all the history behind F1, but othewise I say this is good news.
 
I can't see this happening - it's all part of the rhetoric and game of brinkmanship the FIA & FOTA are playing. This will drag on for a while, there'll be claims and counterclaims, but I'd be hugely surprised if we don't see McLaren, Ferrari et al on the grid at Melbourne next year as part of the official F1 championship.
It happened to CART. I'm not too sure this is just a cloud of rhetoric anymore. There are monetary interests in Formula One that the teams need to look after, and this whole debate started because the teams felt that these interests were threatened by the new set of regulations.

This is exactly the kind of "oh-shit"-moment Formula One needs to get over its dick-swinging exercise. Perhaps Mosley's terrible handling of this whole political meltdown will make him think twice about running for re-election in a couple of weeks.

The FIA's reply to the FOTA decision is a brilliant example of the line of ignorance and stubbornness that the FIA has taken throughout this whole mess, blaming FOTA for the outcome, and saying that "elements within FOTA have sought this outcome throughout the prolonged period of negotiation."

Hopefully the ACEA will clean up the FIA and top-level motorsports.
 
I don't really know whether to be exited or saddened by these news.

Formula 1 has always been the pinnacle of motorsport, and it seems it will just collapse now. With all core drivers and teams left I think the TV licence holders will want to renegotiate their deals with F1. I doubt they would be willing to pay the current sum of money in the future, just to show avarage drivers with avarage cars built by avarage teams racing togheter. Williams is the only team left in the series that has real history.

The new series could became good though, with all the best drivers and teams. Just depends how they can agree about the rules of the new series. With their shared enemy FIA out of the game, I have some doubts how the teams opinions fit togheter.
Also the tracks are a big question mark. I will not miss any of the tilkedromes, but will FIA allow any of the tracks they have a deal with, to make a deal with the new series too?

Well, it's still possible that the FOTA series doesn't even get established, and this statement is just a last warning for FIA that the teams aren't messing around.
 
The FIA's championship takes another blow...

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/76298

N.Technology withdraws F1 application

By Steven English and Pablo Elizalde Friday, June 19th 2009, 09:16 GMT

Italian squad N.Technology has withdrawn its application to enter Formula 1 in 2010.

N.Technology was one of several teams who were on the reserve list after not being included on the original one released last week by the FIA.

However, AUTOSPORT understands the team has decided to inform Formula 1's ruling body that it has withdrawn its application because the circumstances have changed since it applied and it no longer wants to be involved in a sport without the major manufacturers.

The move comes after the Formula One Teams' Association announced plans for a breakaway championship after failing to reach a compromise deal with the FIA.

N.Technology follows Lola in withdrawing its application this week.
 
Expect more of that - all of those applications from new teams were on the basis that they'd have the chance to compete with the biggest names. It's competing with the big names that would have drawn their sponsorship, brought fans, enticed drivers to sign up for them.

Nobody wants to sign up if it's just GP2.5, and here we see the FIA's miscalculation in neutering the sport financially biting them in the ass.
 
I wouldn't be surprised if all the teams who have signed up an entry now withdraws it, just as Lola and N. Technology. No team would want to sign up to F1 without the big teams.
 
I wouldn't be surprised if all the teams who have signed up an entry now withdraws it, just as Lola and N. Technology. No team would want to sign up to F1 without the big teams.

It's not just them. Lola and N.Tech are gone, Brabham cannot apply cause of the ongoing lawsuit against using Brabham name, Austrian Alex Wurz project has financial troubles, Prodrive app is in question, so there's not much left for FIA to go around.
 
I wouldn't be surprised if all the teams who have signed up an entry now withdraws it, just as Lola and N. Technology. No team would want to sign up to F1 without the big teams.

Agreed - you sign up to F1 to compete at the premier level against the premier teams. Without the FOTA teams, F1 doesn't meet either of those requirements.

It's hugely satisfying seeing the new teams pull out - nothing better than seeing Mosley's stubbornness blow up in his face.

I'm sure we'll see F1 in 2010 with the FOTA teams. It's just a matter of watching all the gamesmanship unfold.
 
I'm sure we'll see F1 in 2010 with the FOTA teams. It's just a matter of watching all the gamesmanship unfold.

We'll see it... IF Spanky is removed in September. And he's got the support of the auto clubs of Zimbabwe et al, so he'll stay there, unfortunately.
 
Last edited:
We'll see it... IF Spanky is removed in September. And he's got the support of the auto clubs of Zimbabwe et al, so he'll stay there, unfortunately.

I don't believe Mosley's presence (or more correctly, the lack of it) will really play a part in whether FOTA is in F1. Mosley will survive, he has a knack of doing that - he's also especially good at making out that he's the winner in any of these dealings, so he'll find a way to survive even with the FIA effectively giving in to FOTA's demands.

My prediction then, is a Mosley led FIA running F1 in 2010 with FOTA teams. I know that might seem unbelievable, but it's how I see it shaking out. It's all politics.
 
As exciting (or worrying, lest it be short-lived) the prospect of a break-away series may be. It saddens me so much that all this politics is taking away so much of the attention away from what really matters, the racing. :cry:

Whatever way this all pans out I hope all this political wrangling is over sooner than later. But, I guess this is all to be expected. Seems to be happening a lot in sports these days. Sad.
 
Perhaps Mosley's terrible handling of this whole political meltdown will make him think twice about running for re-election in a couple of weeks.

My opinion is that FOTA is creating this shit storm so that the FIA wont re-elect mad max and elect someone who the teams will be able to negotiate with.
 
No doubt this is a huge move in a big chess games. We shall see how FIA respond and if not to FOTAs liking there will be a breakaway series.

Lets hope Bernie and Max could to their thing and learn from this. This is a worrying time.

Time will tell.
 
It's hugely satisfying seeing the new teams pull out - nothing better than seeing Mosley's stubbornness blow up in his face.

+1
 
Well, it's a very ballsy move.

And I'm not at all sure that it wont happen.. We've been saying that all along, who thought it would get this far? The way I see it, anything can happen at this point.
 
personally a series with no mosley or bernie sounds great to me. Even if only to rub those 2's noses in it. couple of bastards that shouldn't have a say in the color of their toilet seat at home let alone the biggest form of motorsports in the world.

and watching those small teams that filed an application for next season running away also puts a big smile on my face.
 
FIA to take legal action against FOTA

Formula One governing body the FIA has annouced that it is to take instant legal action towards Formula One Teams Association (FOTA) representatives, following the latter's announcement to form a breakaway series on Friday. The FIA, headed by Max Mosley, stressed that recent actions of teams - with emphasis on Ferrari - will lead to 'legal proceedings without delay'.

Following a FOTA meeting at Renault's Enstone base on Thursday evening, the group announced early on Friday from Silverstone that all eight teams included (all current teams apart from Williams and Force India) would be forming a breakaway series for 2010 as a result of failing to find a compromise over the ongoing budget cap-relating issue.


The FIA's Friday statement of response is as follows:

'The FIA's lawyers have now examined the FOTA threat to begin a breakaway series. The actions of FOTA as a whole, and Ferrari in particular, amount to serious violations of law including wilful interference with contractual relations, direct breaches of Ferrari's legal obligations and a grave violation of competition law. The FIA will be issuing legal proceedings without delay.

Preparations for the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship continue but publication of the final 2010 entry list will be put on hold while the FIA asserts its legal rights.'
 
Reading that, I think the breakaway series is even more likely now.

FIA should have just accepted teams demands, and it would have settled down. It seems like they still aren't taking the teams seriously.
 
Last edited:
Surprise surprise, they have delayed the final list of entrants once again.
 
Top