With Prodrive seemingly unable to participate in next year's F1 calendar, the number of teams remains at eleven. Prodrive have not yet announced that they will not compete but it is hard to see how they can put anything together at this late stage. They have mumbled something about "plan B" and speculation has suggested Renault, yet a customer car is a customer car and any constructor's chassis is going to be as illegal for them as the McLaren.
Prodrive's Dave Richards
I suspect that there will not be eleven teams on the grid in 2008 but only nine. If Prodrive are not allowed to run their suggested customer car, how can Super Aguri and Toro Rosso? Arbitration has still to take place in Spyker's case against these two teams and the result may have some bearing on what happens next year. If Spyker wins, how can SA and STR continue?
Even if the case goes against Spyker, there is still the matter of the Concorde Agreement to be sorted out. Now that Williams has dug its heels in, word is that this year's agreement will be extended to cover 2008. But that is what has caused the doubt over Prodrive; if they are not allowed to enter a customer car under the terms of the existing agreement, how is it that STR and SA have managed it?
There are just too many uncertainties and imponderables for the problem not to be sorted out now; in fact, it should have been clarified much earlier. At the beginning of this season it was already apparent that a big row was brewing over the matter but the FIA has sat back and let things degenerate into the current confusion. Mosley's blithe assurance that customer cars will be allowed looks rather ignorant now that Prodrive have been scuppered so effectively by a lack of positive action by anyone.
So what is going to happen? Must we put our blinkers back on and accept that there is something different about SA's and STR's customer cars that makes them legal but Prodrive's are not? Will we have to let another season of racing go by while waiting for one more court case begun by Spyker's new owners to come to court? The situation is plainly ridiculous and should never have been allowed to get to this stage.
If ever there was a time when the FIA needed to clarify matters by over-ruling the Concorde Agreement, this surely is it. It is unacceptable that the governing body is maintaining that customer cars are legal while the agreement says that they are not. Something has to go.
Maybe Mosley is hoping that Spyker's arbitration case will sort out the problem for him. But I would not put too much hope in that. It may reach an acceptable compromise between the teams for this year, but that still leaves next season in doubt. If SA and STR are allowed to race in terms of the decision of the arbitration, then surely Prodrive should too. I suppose we are meant to shrug our shoulders and regret that they do not have enough time left to make an alternative arrangement, now that the McLaren deal has fallen through.
In fact, not even the arbitration will settle anything. Frank Williams has already stated that he will take the matter of Prodrive's participation to the civil courts if necessary. It seemed a bit strange that he did not see fit to become involved in the case against SA and STR and we are left thinking that he perceives Prodrive as more of a threat to Williams scoring points than SA and STR can be.
So many vested interests, so many court cases, so much indecision; is it really an international multi-million dollar sport we are talking about? Why cannot the governing body just rule on the matter and leave it at that? Is it possible that they are too busy pursuing imaginary industrial spies and pandering to spoiled drivers to be bothered with minor matters like who can compete in the sport and who can't? Instead of casting slurs on highly respected members of the F1 fraternity, shouldn't Mosley be writing in clear and large letters for everyone to read: Customer cars are allowed in 2008 and that's that - I have written a rule that says so?
But no, it seems sudden rule changes are only valid when necessary to fiddle with championship results. Making sure that teams no longer have to go to court to find out whether they can play or not is minor beer compared to that.
Prodrive's Dave Richards
I suspect that there will not be eleven teams on the grid in 2008 but only nine. If Prodrive are not allowed to run their suggested customer car, how can Super Aguri and Toro Rosso? Arbitration has still to take place in Spyker's case against these two teams and the result may have some bearing on what happens next year. If Spyker wins, how can SA and STR continue?
Even if the case goes against Spyker, there is still the matter of the Concorde Agreement to be sorted out. Now that Williams has dug its heels in, word is that this year's agreement will be extended to cover 2008. But that is what has caused the doubt over Prodrive; if they are not allowed to enter a customer car under the terms of the existing agreement, how is it that STR and SA have managed it?
There are just too many uncertainties and imponderables for the problem not to be sorted out now; in fact, it should have been clarified much earlier. At the beginning of this season it was already apparent that a big row was brewing over the matter but the FIA has sat back and let things degenerate into the current confusion. Mosley's blithe assurance that customer cars will be allowed looks rather ignorant now that Prodrive have been scuppered so effectively by a lack of positive action by anyone.
So what is going to happen? Must we put our blinkers back on and accept that there is something different about SA's and STR's customer cars that makes them legal but Prodrive's are not? Will we have to let another season of racing go by while waiting for one more court case begun by Spyker's new owners to come to court? The situation is plainly ridiculous and should never have been allowed to get to this stage.
If ever there was a time when the FIA needed to clarify matters by over-ruling the Concorde Agreement, this surely is it. It is unacceptable that the governing body is maintaining that customer cars are legal while the agreement says that they are not. Something has to go.
Maybe Mosley is hoping that Spyker's arbitration case will sort out the problem for him. But I would not put too much hope in that. It may reach an acceptable compromise between the teams for this year, but that still leaves next season in doubt. If SA and STR are allowed to race in terms of the decision of the arbitration, then surely Prodrive should too. I suppose we are meant to shrug our shoulders and regret that they do not have enough time left to make an alternative arrangement, now that the McLaren deal has fallen through.
In fact, not even the arbitration will settle anything. Frank Williams has already stated that he will take the matter of Prodrive's participation to the civil courts if necessary. It seemed a bit strange that he did not see fit to become involved in the case against SA and STR and we are left thinking that he perceives Prodrive as more of a threat to Williams scoring points than SA and STR can be.
So many vested interests, so many court cases, so much indecision; is it really an international multi-million dollar sport we are talking about? Why cannot the governing body just rule on the matter and leave it at that? Is it possible that they are too busy pursuing imaginary industrial spies and pandering to spoiled drivers to be bothered with minor matters like who can compete in the sport and who can't? Instead of casting slurs on highly respected members of the F1 fraternity, shouldn't Mosley be writing in clear and large letters for everyone to read: Customer cars are allowed in 2008 and that's that - I have written a rule that says so?
But no, it seems sudden rule changes are only valid when necessary to fiddle with championship results. Making sure that teams no longer have to go to court to find out whether they can play or not is minor beer compared to that.