It doesn’t take a lot of reading between the lines to sense FOTA’s impression of the FIA’s endorsement of Bernie Ecclestone’s ‘medal’ concept. The teams have officially made a statement that demonstrates their concern and issues with the World Motor Sport Council’s decisions today.
With regard to the decisions taken today by the FIA World Council, FOTA would like to express its disappointment and concern at the fact that these have been taken in a unilateral manner. The framework of the regulations as defined by the FIA, to be applicable as from 2010, runs the risk of turning on its head the very essence of Formula 1 and the principles that make it one of the most popular and appealing sports.
Given the timeframe and the way in which these modifications were decided upon, we feel it is necessary to study closely the new situation and to do everything, especially in these difficult times, to maintain a stable framework for the regulations without continuous upheaval, that can be perplexing and confusing for car manufacturers, teams, the public and sponsors.
I was waiting to see if FOTA would start flexing their will upon F1 until 2011 due to the Concorde Agreement ending in 2012 but this may jump start the process if the teams see this as egregious and overstepping in scope. The next few days could get interesting if FOTA doesn’t want to start the season under the ‘winner-takes-all’ system.
