FOTA Begins Preparations For New Series

(from Autosport)

The Formula One Teams' Association (FOTA) will begin formal preparations for its new championship as early as next week, after Ross Brawn made it clear the teams were focusing flat out on their breakaway series rather than finding a compromise deal with the FIA.

Although FIA president Max Mosley believes that teams will eventually capitulate and sign up to join F1 next year, Brawn is adamant that FOTA is only thinking of going its own way right now.

When asked if he believed that a compromise would be put together that resulted in teams signings up to F1, Brawn said: "No that won't happen, I mean the decision has been made by FOTA. FOTA now has to press ahead with its ideas and plans. We can't wait until January and decide which way it is going to go. As each day passes, and each week passes then the options for reconciliation will reduce."

Amid suggestions that television companies and promoters have already been contacted regarding the breakaway championship, Brawn says that work on framing the technical regulations for the championship will begin in earnest next week.

"Those meetings start next week and we will arrive at a technical specification that we think offers the best racing and is cost effective," he explained. "Things start next week and we will start to put some more detail to the proposal."

Despite the stand-off between teams and the FIA, Brawn confirmed that ironically motor racing's governing body would likely be the regulator of the new series.

"You would need a regulatory body," he said. "In fact ironically I think the agreement with the European Commission is that the FIA have to offer to do that to any competitive series that wants to set up, so the FIA have to offer to be at least the regulatory body.

"They may not be the body that sets the rules, they can be determined by some other mechanism. But if you want, the FIA can run the series for you. They can provide the stewards, the scruntineers and things of that nature. So that's available if FOTA wanted to take it up."

Although Brawn's stance appears to point towards there being no plans to get the FIA back around the table to discuss saving F1 next year, other team bosses are more conciliatory in their approach.

McLaren boss Martin Whitmarsh said it would be foolish of teams not to accept an offer they are happy with if it was put forward by the FIA.

"I don't think FOTA rules anything out," said Whitmarsh. "At the moment, as we said earlier in the week, the team were presented with a deadline and, faced with that deadline, the teams did request that there was more time to find a solution.

"So within that deadline the decision was taken, but I think the teams are open to discuss with anybody how we go motor racing next year."