Mosley: No time left for discussion

FIA president Max Mosley has warned the members of the Formula One Teams’ Association there is no compromise over Friday’s D-day.

Stung by withering criticisms made by the FIA over the previous two days, FOTA wrote to Mosley and F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone calling for an end to the protracted dispute.

In putting forward a number of proposals, FOTA had also suggested extending the deadline for entries through to July 1.

But the five teams yet to sign up unconditionally for next year’s £40m (€47m) budget cap – McLaren, Renault, Toyota, BMW Sauber and Brawn GP – have been told Friday is the last cut-off point.

In a letter by way of response from Mosley to the teams, a copy of which has been seen by PA Sport, the 69-year-old insists there is no time left for discussion.

As Mosley writes, that is because “we must answer the remaining applicants for 2010 no later than Friday”.

A number of teams are waiting in the wings, although one of those in Lola has today confirmed they have withdrawn their application to compete next year.

The five teams concerned now have just 48 hours to either accept Mosley’s final on-the-table offer or face the prospect of not competing in F1 from next year.

In their letter, FOTA felt compelled to make one last-ditch bid to resolve their feud with the FIA and bring peace to the sport due to the “increasingly negative publicity generated for Formula One”.

“The time has come when, in the interests of the sport, we must all seek to compromise and bring an urgent conclusion to the protracted debate regarding the 2010 world championship,” they added.

“We hope you will consider that this letter represents significant movement by the teams, all of whom have clearly stated a willingness to commit to the sport until the end of 2012.

“We would therefore strongly, but respectfully submit, you consider these proposals and seek to avoid the potential departure from Formula One of some important teams.

“Now is the time to find a reasonable and rapid solution to the outstanding issues.”

FOTA’s proposals related to governance, what they describe as ’resources’ - their term for a budget cap – and its policing, and the two-tier regulations.

On governance, FOTA proposed the signing of a new Concorde Agreement – a confidential commercial document governing the sport – based on the 1998 covenant, but with amendments to bring it up to date.

In his reply, Mosley insists that due to the time frame, it is not possible to look at all of FOTA’s revisions, and instead suggests a broad acceptance of the 1998 agreement.

In addition, Mosley states: “We can then negotiate a new 2009 Concorde Agreement under the protection of the 1998 arrangements.

“After all we lived with these for 10 years; a few more weeks or months should not cause any difficulty.”

Given FOTA’s fears over intrusion into the teams’ respective books, they proposed “a top firm of independent accountants” to “devise an audit methodology that would be implemented by all the teams”.

Whilst agreeing a reputable auditor is the way forward, Mosley points out that “a fundamental problem with the FOTA proposal was the absence of a clear figure.

“The teams need to know what the constraints are, so do we.

“We therefore propose you accept the 2010 rules as published, which we agreed with you last year,” with the prospect they could then be revised within a new Concorde Agreement.

Mosley is also in agreement that there will be only one set of rules for next year although Cosworth, engine supplier to the new teams, will be allowed to run without limitation.

This is due to the fact the Cosworth will be based on a 2006 spec, with Mosley pointing out they will have “neither the time nor the resources to re-tune for 2010”.

Mosley adds: “Any engineer will confirm that this will not give the relevant teams any competitive advantage whatsoever.”

Again, it is all a matter of Mosley effectively insisting ’my way, or go your own way’.

The FOTA teams concerned are to now be sent a letter, and if signed and returned, it will make Mosley’s proposals “legally binding and the relevant team’s entry unconditional”.

The clock is now ticking to close of business on Friday as to how many signed letters Mosley receives.