F1 Teams Seek Compromise With FIA In Final Effort Before Deadline

F1 Teams Want To Bring Conclusion To Debate Regarding Budget Caps In '10

F1 teams "have written to the sport's powerbrokers in what they see as a final attempt to break a deadlock over next year's rules and prevent a damaging split," according to Alan Baldwin of REUTERS. The Formula One Teams Association (FOTA) in a letter to F1 Management Chair Bernie Ecclestone and FIA President Max Mosley wrote, "The time has come when, in the interests of the sport, we must all seek to compromise and bring an urgent conclusion to the protracted debate regarding the 2010 world championship. ... We would therefore strongly but respectfully submit that you consider these proposals and seek to avoid the potential departure from Formula One of some important teams." A team source indicated that the letter "represented a last attempt at compromise with a Friday deadline looming for five of the FOTA member teams to make their 2010 championship entries unconditional, with the FIA's reaction of critical importance" (REUTERS, 6/17). But in London, Tom Cary cites sources as indicating that talks between the FIA and the FOTA "over next year's regulations have broken down irrevocably." The FIA yesterday "with just two days to go until the latest deadline imposed on rebel teams to back down over the introduction of budget caps" launched an "astonishing attack on the FOTA." The FIA insisted that the US$64.9M cap "would now go ahead as planned," and "described as 'unacceptable' what it deems to be FOTA's attempts to take over both the regulations and the commercial rights of the sport." Sources close to the FIA "suggest that there will now be no more dialogue before Friday's deadline," which "effectively means that five teams ... will be excluded from the 2010 championship as things stand" (London TELEGRAPH, 6/17).