It is all very silly now. We thought we had seen the conclusion of the FOTA/FIA war, but it would appear that Max Mosley still thinks he has a point to prove.
At a planned meeting today between the FIA and the 13 teams that are entered for the 2010 championship, the 8 FOTA teams walked out of the proceedings. Max Mosley promptly issued a press release deriding the teams. “The eight FOTA teams were invited to attend the meeting to discuss their further proposals for 2010. Unfortunately no discussion was possible because FOTA walked out of the meeting.”
FOTA responded with a press release of their own detailing that Charlie Whitting would not allow them to be part of the future rules discussion since the FIA did not consider them to be properly entered for the 2010 season. FOTA stated that this was clearly against the agreement that was struck in Paris that kept FOTA from starting their own series.
But then again, another part of the agreement has already been under threat since Max Mosley has reared his head and threatened to stand for reelection, even though part of the agreement with FOTA was that he would not run again.
I will have to say bravo to the Chris Balfe over at Pitpass. I think he sums up the typical F1 fan’s thoughts on Max Mosley really well in his article “Is Max Determined to Destroy F1?”. Fantastic piece! I highly encourage you to give it a read.
What is clear is that F1 is at the brink one more time. Bernie Ecclestone has made it his life’s work to establish F1 as the pinnacle of motor racing on the planet. Max has certainly played a part in this, but can’t take too much credit for it. But at this point, Max is relying on the overarching mega empire that Bernie has built up to keep the teams involved in the sport, even though they have made it perfectly clear that they want nothing to do with him and the ridiculous bureaucracy that is the FIA.