And then there were five. Or maybe six, or even seven, depending upon which source you decide to believe. General consensus is that USF1, Prodrive, Lola and Campos have registered for F1 in 2010, thereby accepting Mosley's budget cap rules. Add to these Williams, known to have signed on since that was the reason for its suspension from FOTA, and a surprise entrant in the form of Superfund, led by my old friend, Alex Wurz, and we have six likely entrants for next year.
Alex Wurz
Litespeed has been mentioned in some quarters but not by any of the more reliable sources, so I regard it as suspect at the moment. Even if we take it at face value, that gives Mosley seven uncontested teams for the 2010 grid. That would be fourteen cars and Williams would return to its great days of teaching the others a lesson in winning championships.
Alianora and now Pitpass have pointed out that the FOTA entry may be invalid and is at risk of being thrown out by Mosley, therefore. Whether he would do this is debatable, however, as it would leave him with a greatly reduced series with merely a ghost of its former drawing power. Without the viewers, income would plummet and then Bernie would be incensed.
But, if the entry is accepted, the provisos must surely kick in or the nine teams would pack up and leave and Max would have achieved nothing through his lenient view on their entry. A couple of them, probably Force India and Brawn GP, could be persuaded to stay, perhaps, and that would boost the field to eighteen cars, at the same time spoiling Williams' party. The absence of the big names would still cause a huge dent in the sport's following, however.
Much is being made of Ferrari's contractual obligation to compete until 2012 but I think this gives too much credit to an agreement broken by both sides on several occasions. If Ferrari decide to withdraw, they will do so and let Mosley take whatever legal action he thinks he can succeed in. Without Ferrari in the sport, the FIA's income is going to be severely curtailed anyway and there will not be much left over for legal fees.
It seems to me that Max must either talk to FOTA in a genuine attempt to reach a compromise acceptable to all or he will convert F1 into a series no longer recognized as the most popular and technically advanced form of motor sport. The really silly thing is that, in his public statements, Mosley has already given way in many of the areas highlighted by the FOTA provisional entry and agreement could be reached quite easily as a result - yet it is quite likely that Max will be so enraged by the challenge to his power that he could refuse to discuss things and take F1 on a course of self destruction. And that, surely, is enough proof that the government of the sport needs re-structuring; it is madness that one man should have the power to make or break F1.
I have to hope that Mosley sees reason and seeks compromise with the FOTA teams. A product of that will be a new Concorde Agreement and that will go some way to limiting Mosley's powers. With a reasonable glide path to cost cuts established and regulations no longer subject to the whims of the moment, the sport could look forward to many more healthy years.
Some of the new teams might find themselves out in the cold as a result, either through missing the FIA cut or being unable to meet the financial demands of a sport not limited to £40 million, but the grid would be full again and would contain all the familiar and famous faces of the sport. That has to be the best way forward, doesn't it?