Although the Ferrari board's announcement that they will not be signing up for next season if the rules for 2010 remain unchanged sparked heated debates in the F1 world yesterday, it was not exactly unexpected. As I have pointed out before, the proposed two tier system with optional budget cap is completely unworkable for the manufacturer teams and they have no option but to insist on changes or leave the sport. Toyota has made a definite statement that they will not participate unless a suitable compromise on the rules is agreed and now Ferrari has confirmed that the team will find something else to do rather than submit to Mosley's plan. And today Renault has announced that it too will go.
The last F1 Ferrari?
Red Bull has said that its two teams will not be signing up before the May 29 deadline for 2010 entries and BMW has also registered its discontent. McLaren and Mercedes have kept very quiet, understandably so since they have experience of the FIA's vindictiveness when crossed, but I have no doubt that they are backing FOTA in its resistance to the new regulations.
That leaves Williams, Force India and Brawn GP who will register for next season and we can probably add USF1 (or whatever it is calling itself at the moment). The other allegedly interested parties cannot sign up until they know what is happening and whether the 40 million sterling budget cap can be relied upon. Max is faced with the possibility of F1 being reduced to a four team sideshow.
Some commentators are suggesting that this is all just a game of bluff and bragadoccio but make no mistake, this is the big one, the showdown that we have been awaiting for years. Ferrari, Toyota, Renault and Red Bull are deadly serious in their threat to leave and nothing but a capitulation by the FIA will satisfy them. In a nutshell, they have had enough of Max's nonsense.
This is made clear in Ferrari's statement that "The Board also expressed its disappointment about the methods adopted by the FIA in taking decisions of such a serious nature and its refusal to effectively reach an understanding with constructors and teams... The rules of governance that have contributed to the development of Formula 1 over the last 25 years have been disregarded, as have the binding contractual obligations between Ferrari and the FIA itself regarding the stability of the regulations." Other teams too have pointed out their disgust at Mosley's dictatorial methods of inducing changes in the sport.
Ferrari and FOTA have reached the sticking point and Max Mosley's position becomes a part of the debate as a result. He must either accept that he cannot have his way this time or face removal as FIA president in the ensuing catastrophe. If he sticks to his guns, the manufacturers will leave and the FIA will have a pathetic shadow of F1 to present to the world next year.
At that point, the FIA will have to admit that he has destroyed the jewel in the crown and replace him. Any successor would have to institute a completely new F1, sufficiently to Ferrari's liking to induce their return. The other manufacturers would not come back, however, and it would be many years before the sport regains its status as the pinnacle of motor sport.
As F1 fans, we must hope that the FIA delegates realize in the forthcoming negotiations how Max has endangered its premier series. They have a convenient lever on him in that the elections draw near and Mosley will undoubtedly expect another term as president. If they have any foresight and courage at all, they will use this power to force a more reasonable attitude upon their self-important president.
In fact, Mosley may well have ensured that he will be deposed when the election takes place. The mere fact that he has brought F1 to this pass should be enough to make delegates doubt his continuing suitability as president. We may even witness a similar scenario to Ron Dennis' departure from the sport, with Max having to make good his promise not to stand for another term; indeed, if the teams have any sense, they will make that part of whatever deal is hammered out.
So be of good cheer, fellow enthusiasts. This battle has been coming for years and its outcome will decide whether F1 survives in recognizable form or not. The odds are that good sense will prevail, the two-tier idea be thrown out and its inventor with it. It is a shame that it has taken the possibility of the sport ceasing to exist to bring this about but the prize is worth the risk.
Oh, and get ready for yet another betrayal of his friend by Bernie Ecclestone. He knows perfectly well that he cannot extract enough money to pay his employers should F1 be reduced to a ghost by a mass departure of teams; he will dump Max when the time comes.