over rule changes

The future of Formula One was put into question yesterday after the eight teams in the Formula One Teams Association (FOTA) walked out of a meeting regarding next year's rules.

FOTA said that during the course of Wednesday's meeting with the International Automobile Federation (FIA), motorsport’s governing body, FIA technical head Charlie Whiting said the teams had no voting rights because they were not yet fully entered for next season.

A request for the meeting to be postponed was rejected and the teams had no option but to walk out because they could not exercise their rights, FOTA added, and at no point in the Paris discussions “was any requirement for unanimous agreement on regulations change expressed."

An FIA statement said: “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.”

“All changes have now been agreed subject only to the maintenance of the minimum (car) weight at 620 kg and the signing of a legally binding agreement between all the teams competing in 2010 to reduce costs to the level of the early 1990s within two years, as promised by the FOTA representative in Paris on 24 June.”

FOTA had threatened to set up a breakaway series until what seemed to be a settlement deal was announced in Paris last month

Source: Sports business.