McLAREN'S POSITION ON FIA/FOTA DISCUSSIONS

Whitmarsh has to keep his trap shut, he promised to be a good boy and not take after his old boss, at any time Porno can slap Mclaren down, for bringing the sport into disrepute on the grounds of cheating lying blah blah.

It's BS.

 

Having been a keen observer of Max Mosley over the years, I have to say I thought he looked rattled when Ted Kravitz bowled into him at the Monaco Grand Prix. Emerging into the welcoming arms of the media on Sunday he seemed keen to get over the idea that although he was prepared to delay the $60/£40m budget cap until 2011, that was still going ahead.


Little did we suspect that he would get a letter from FOTA later that day - just before the race in fact - that outlined quite clearly that they weren't even considering that.


The letter, signed by all teams demanded that the FIA ditches the planned 2010 technical and sporting regulations and reverts to the current 2009 version. This would then be used as the starting point for framing new regulations to bring costs under control - with agreed changes like a refueling ban still expected to go ahead.


As well as the rule changes, the teams want guarantees about the governance of the sport and the re-establishment of protocols, like the use of the Formula 1 Commission, to ensure there is proper framing of the rules in the years ahead.


FOTA maintain that if the FIA agree to such a course of action, the teams will commit their future to the sport until 2012.


So, let's stare into the tea leaves...


The fact that the teams can make a guarantee about staying in the sport until 2012 considering the financial pressure they are under right now must mean that they've been offered quite a bit more cash from Bernie.


What Max is always banging on about is that the manufacturers are fickle and that they're suddenly going to leave F1 with four teams on the grid. It sounds like Bernie's offered more cash so that the FOTA teams can refute that argument.


That being the case then Mosley has no mandate to plunge their businesses into crisis and for Ferrari and Toyota to sack 75% of their considerable workforce by demanding a budget cap to attract in new teams. What FOTA also maintain is that the FIA have no right to interfere in the commercial running of their teams anyway. They are there to set the sporting rules.


The Ferrari court case was an attempt to buy time, just as the latest FOTA letter is an attempt to protract the negotiations. Because the longer the members of the FIA see that Mosley is embroiling the sport in argument, the more likely he is to disappear in the FIA presidential election this autumn (should he stand).


Mosley is keen to see this done and dusted, but FOTA have rightly pointed out that Max is cutting through a lot of protocols and organisational niceties to get his desired result. Max maintains he needs to do move quickly or F1 will collapse with no teams (as we saw with Honda). The teams won't be hustled into a new era at Mosley's pace, even though some would rather like a budget cap.


There will probably be some people at the FIA who are uneasy about the way that Max has sidestepped the appropriate procedures and the more that FOTA can demonstrate they have a viable future by organising their own cost-cutting, the more Max's way is undermined.


Though Mosley has tried to introduce a guillotine by asking for all entries by May 29th any new team still can't know what the future holds. They were promised two tiers and a £40m cap up to 10 days a go. What will it be 10 days from now?


All this is to play for in the days ahead with Bernie straining every wrinkly sinew to keep Ferrari on board and Max battling through the private hell of a family tragedy to stay focused. If his ultimate aim is that Ferrari should be treated like any other team on the grid and win the same amount of prize money should they win the title, and have no technical veto, then that is a fair one. This is nominally a sport, not the Sopranos.


But creating a sudden level playing field for new teams to join in while the old ones who have supported F1 for years have to ditch sizeable numbers of personnel seems unfair. Considering Max's aid, Allan Donnelly, was a former Labour MP and union shop steward it's even more surprising.


We await to see the developments from Place de la Concorde, but this bruising encounter shows every sign of going the distance.

Andrew Davies

 

McLaren is the new Ferrari. LdM & Co. played the peacemaker the last time banter heated up about a separate series. I wonder if they get the Ferrari deal if he can convince the others to play along?

 

Thanks Steve.
Sounds like a good analysis.
As stated McLaren's tenuous position with the FIA either makes them a uniquely well placed mediator or a shill.

 

I'am highlighting these point's, so that anyone with half a brain can see where the real problems lie.

And this really is nail meets head

 

Correct Dave, and put more succinctly than me..

 

Steve, Very good, but I don't think Bernie's offered anything more just yet. He's waiting to see how all this plays out a bit before he decides how much of a problem FOTA is going to be for him. He's been using his "hammer" Max to see how much he can diminish the manufacture teams power. Concorde is still a way off, and both sides are manuvering now before the REAL issue of money and control appear then. If we hear anything about an extension of Concorde during all this, then I would believe you are correct that Bernie did a premptive strike and made an offered FOTA could not refuse, I just don't think wer'e there quite yet. I do believe though that if FOTA stays united, Bernie is going to have no other option but to give up both power and money........ Mike

 

I believe as long as Bernie doesn't have to give up cheap hookers and booze than he just might give up a little power and controll in F1 . Just my 2 cents. LOL. Interesting stuff for sure.

 

'Played the peacemaker'? That's an interesting interpretation, I suspect some of the teams would suggest it was more a case of them selling out for Bernie/the FIA's 30 pieces of silver. At the end of all of this, I hope there will be no special deal of any kind for any team, if there is I'll more than happily accept Steve's analysis of "corrupt".

 

LOL the very fact Ferrari were bought and given special treatment makes it corrupt, Ian and now that is a fact.

Max thought he would be clever to broadcast this, IMO it back fired, the FOTA held firm.

The real problem, IMO is not really to do with two-tier systems, nor even budget caps, medals egos and alliances ect, they are symptoms of the problem, not the problem itself.

Nicked from a Blog: interesting read Ian.

Formula 1 is a big fat cow in a field. It has plenty of grass to eat and it plods off to the milking shed every so often and produces milk which a dairy company takes away and turns into cream, butter, cheese and so on. The farmer sold the commercial rights to the cow to some men in suits and they have sold the milk for years to come. They have kept all the money. So the old cow has to go on being milked, while the men in the suits drive around in fancy sportscars and the farmer buys Armani jeans and has a big boat.
The cow is happy enough because eating grass is what she does best, but now and then she thinks that she deserves a little more. She sometimes wonders what would happen if she jumped the fence.

The problem has now come to a head because there is a drought. The grass is drying up and the cow is hungry. The farmer and the men in suits demand the same amount of milk and the cow is protesting more and more and thinking about refusing to go to the shed. She knows that refusing to be milked will be painful but cannot think of what else to do. The hedge to the next field seems higher than ever. The farmer is no longer able to convince the cow that the men in suits deserve what they are getting…
The cow does not care whether the men in suits go out of business. All she wants is more grass, perhaps a shelter and to be left alone to do what she does best. The cow thinks she is the star of the show…
Where will it all end?

You would be hard pressed to find anyone in the F1 paddock who has any sympathy for the men in suits (CVC Capital Partners). They came in, they borrowed money to take over and restructure the business. Then they borrowed a vast sum against the future profits of the sport and took the money, leaving the sport to pay for years to come. If it cannot pay, what will happen then? Will they dip into their own pockets and help out? Of course not. They will fold up the business and run to the administrators asking for protection, blaming everyone but themselves. If that happens, the debts will disappear and the commercial rights of the sport will be up for sale to whoever pays the most.

The teams are the stars of the show. They are what people come to see. They are happy to give a promoter a fair share of the profits, but 50% is not the right number. A more normal figure would be around 15%. Let us not take it away from farmer Bernie. He has done a terrific job for F1. He has done a terrific job for himself. The sport would not be where it is if it had not been for him, but then again he has been handsomely paid for his work. He is a squillionaire. Yes, he wants to hold on to the cash cow that the sport has become, but the old cow is beginning to protest more and more…

 

I can concur with that Mike.

 

All I can say is that every day that passes past the deadline, Mosley loses his weapons in his armoury, and will be defeated.

The teams want the deadline moved because new teams will not be able to get there act together in such short notice.

At the end of the day the teams want the power/control, it will come maybe not now but this IMO is where it is heading, as long as the FOTA holds firm.

Frank bank Williams is in Bernies pocket, the manufactors are not.

 

I think Frank's riding the fence, protecting himself contractually/legally, but with FOTA's acceptance(somewhat) hence the temporary suspension.

 

Frank can't afford to get the FIA mad.

 

Well a good point Dave, this is another case of why Max must go, how could a fine of a 100 mil, be applied to a team such as Williams, if given they were guilty of recieving Ferrari data. This is why the sport needs a much needed face lift with consistant unbiased rules, with the gravity of the offence taken into account that can be applied to any team irrespective of there wealth.

 

I was just reading Nigel Roebuck's on line column where he remembers Max's comments about there being no room in F1 for a Williams sized team. Seems the worm has turned now that Max is looking for friends among the prospective team owners.
Max is, as Tom Leher once described Wener Von Braun, a man whose allegiance is ruled by expedience.

 

IMO if Brawn is not following M/B's lead its because FOTA doesn't think it will hurt them. If it mattered M/B would convince Brawn to hang tough.
V J M could finance a full season for the cost of his boat