FIA president Max Mosley ((pictured, thanks CP)) has signed a new Concorde Agreement, the document that governs Formula One racing.
The FIA said Saturday the signing heralds "a renewed period of stability" for Formula One.
Motor sports' world governing body says that the document was signed late Friday and features a "slightly revised" set of technical regulations for the 2010 season. The FIA says all of the teams - with the exception of BMW-Sauber - have agreed to the changes, which will be published shortly.
BMW announced this week that it was withdrawing from Formula One at the end of the current season. They have reportedly been given until August 5 to sign on in the event that the manufacturer elects to sell the team to a potential buyer.
The Concorde Agreement is a contract between the FIA, F1's commercial rights holder and the participating teams sets out the basis on which all teams take part in the series and what their share is of the commercial wealth. The deal runs through 2012 and carries forward the procedures which were first set out in the 1998 deal. Decisions and changes will be decided upon by working groups and commissions with all teams having specific voting rights. Any changes must be formally approved by the World Motor Sport Council.
The deal also includes a "resource restriction agreement" which all the team's agreed to back on June 24, 2009. It calls for team budgets to fall back to the levels of the early 1990's.
Max Mosley claims he is coming under pressure to reverse his decision last week not to seek re-election as president of Formula One's ruling body.
Mosley originally said he would step down as president of the International Automobile Federation in October. His decision helped broker a peace deal with the Formula One Teams Association, which had threatened to form a breakaway series if the FIA pressed ahead with an unpopular plan for budget caps from next year.
However, FOTA may not have seen the last of Mosley, according to an interview with the Mail on Sunday, where the 69-year-old official said some in the world of motorsport want still him to stand for a fifth term after 16 years in the job.
"They made the mistake of dancing on my grave before I was buried," Mosley was quoted as saying. "It's no good the teams getting a PR agency to claim I am dead and buried when I am standing here as large as life. I am under pressure now from all over the world to stand for re-election.
"I do genuinely want to stop. But if there is going to be a big conflict with the car industry, for example, with the FOTA teams, then I won't stop. I will do whatever I have to do. It's not in my nature to walk away from a fight."
It was also clear that a comment made after Wednesday's peace deal by Ferrari chief Luca di Montezemolo, referring to Mosley as a "dictator" whose reign had been ended, clearly rankled with the FIA president.
"By going home to Italy and telling the Italian media that they had toppled the dictator, di Montezemolo has tried to make it sound like I sit here and just decide what's going to happen," Mosley said. "It's absolutely not true ... to say that I run a dictatorship is nonsense."
Here's Mosley before the British GP, explaining the supposed schism... ((HT: BBC))
FIA president Max Mosley ((pictured, thanks topnews)) warned that Formula One's peace deal may collapse unless Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo apologizes for branding him a "dictator."
Di Montezemolo made the comment after Ferrari and seven other teams claimed a significant victory over Mosley when he abandoned a planned voluntary budget cap on Wednesday to ensure there would be no breakaway series.
With the FIA and Formula One Teams Association united again, Mosley announced he would be stepping down after 16 years in office.
Now angered by FOTA's apparent gloating, he said he will keep his "options open" over staying on while throwing that peace pact into doubt.
"If you wish the agreement we made to have any chance of survival, you and FOTA must immediately rectify your actions," Mosley wrote to Di Montezemolo early Thursday. "You must correct the false statements which have been made and make no further such statements.
"You yourself must issue a suitable correction and apology at your press conference [for FOTA] this afternoon."
Di Montezemolo did not do so in Bologna, although he did praise Mosley's contribution to enhancing safety during his four terms in office.
Mosley hinted in the letter that he might reverse plans not to seek a fifth term in October.
"There was no need for me to involve myself further in Formula 1 once we had a settlement," he wrote. "Given your and FOTA's deliberate attempt to mislead the media, I now consider my options open. At least until October, I am president of the FIA with the full authority of that office.
"After that it is the FIA member clubs, not you or FOTA, who will decide on the future leadership of the FIA."
Mosley claimed that the FIA and FOTA agreed to present a "positive" account of the reconciliation in Paris on Wednesday.
Instead, Di Montezemolo and other teams declared that they had won the power battle, since Mosley completely scrapped plans for the $65-million budget cap.
"The satisfaction is that all of our requests have been accepted," Di Montezemolo said after Wednesday's Paris meeting. "To us, three things were most important: That F1 stay F1 and not become F3; that there is no dictator, but that there was a choice of rules, agreed and not imposed; and that whoever had a team was consulted and had a voice."
His comments angered Mosley, who wrote to Di Montezemolo: "You have suggested to the media that I was a 'dictator,' an accusation which is grossly insulting to the 26 members of the World Motor Sport Council who have discussed and voted all the rules and procedures of Formula 1 since the 1980s, not to mention the representatives of the FIA's 122 countries who have democratically endorsed everything I and my World Motor Sport Council colleagues have done during the last 18 years."
Despite Mosley vowing on Wednesday to "step back" this summer, he was unhappy that teams were saying FIA Senate president Michel Boeri was effectively in control as a result of the deal.
"A fundamental part of this was that we would both present a positive and truthful account to the media," Mosley wrote.
"I was therefore astonished to learn that FOTA has been briefing the press that Mr. Boeri has taken charge of Formula One, something which you know is completely untrue; that I had been forced out of office, also false; and, apparently, that I would have no role in the FIA after October, something which is plain nonsense, if only because of the FIA statutes."
Last weekend's British Grand Prix was overshadowed by the split between the FIA and FOTA members, some of whom were branded "loonies" by Mosley after their decision to form a rival series.
The cash-strapped Formula One series prevented a break up Wednesday when the FIA's divisive and scandal-plagued president, Max Mosley, agreed to scrap a planned budget cap and step down at the end of his term.
Mosley will immediately take a back-seat role until his 16-year tenure ends in October, a move aimed at easing some of the acrimony that has blighted F1 in recent months.
"There will be no split. There will be one F1 championship in 2010," Mosley said at FIA's Paris headquarters.
"They've got the rules they want and they've got the stability. We've got the new teams and we've got the cost reduction."
Mosley backed down on the voluntary $65 million budget cap at the World Motorsport Council. Instead, teams were given a watered-down order to reduce costs to early 1990s levels.
But the Formula One Teams Association, which instigated the breakaway, had already implemented a series of cost-cutting measures themselves this season amid the global economic downturn, restricting on-track testing and the use of wind tunnels for aerodynamic testing.
Further efforts to create savings on engines and gearboxes in the next three years had already been announced by FOTA in May to help attract new teams. Campos Meta, Manor and Team US F1 will make their debuts next season. Additional cuts are expected to be agreed to Thursday at a FOTA meeting in Bologna, Italy.
"I am pleased FOTA's proposals have been endorsed and approved by the WMSC today," said John Howett, FOTA's vice chairman and Toyota Motorsport president. "We look forward to working with the FIA Senate to achieve a prosperous and exciting future for Formula One and its millions of fans around the world."
FOTA's members -- Ferrari, McLaren, BMW Sauber, Renault, Toyota, Red Bull, Toro Rosso and Brawn GP -- opposed the budget cap because it would have given those who signed up greater technical freedom than those who refused, creating a two-tier championship next season.
"We're very happy that common sense has prevailed as I always believed it would because the alternative was not good at all," said Bernie Ecclestone, F1's commercial rights holder. "Everything is in good shape."
The FIA also expects the teams to sign on to a new Concorde Agreement, the confidential commercial document governing the sport.
Last weekend's British Grand Prix had been overshadowed by the split between the FIA and FOTA members, some of whom were branded "loonies" by Mosley after their decision to form a rival series.
Mosley announced plans to sue FOTA on Friday, but backed down 48 hours later when he insisted that a deal was close.
What will help heal the rifts is the departure of the often divisive Mosley after four terms. His leadership style was criticized as too autocratic and was blamed by many of the teams for precipitating the split between FOTA and the FIA.
Even as the crisis intensified over the weekend, Mosley was still planning to run for a fifth term.
But he said Wednesday: "The teams were always ... going to get rid of me in October. Whether the person who succeeds me will be more to their taste than I am remains to be seen."
Mosley has been the president of the FIA, the international automobile federation that governs Formula One, since 1993. FIA Senate president Michel Boeri will effectively be in charge until the election. "It is a great relief and that is going to enable me to take a step back for the summer," Mosley said. "I will be able to look at Formula One knowing it's peaceful and stable, and I will be able to stop -- as was always my intention -- in October of this year."
"This for me is an enormous relief," Mosley added, referring to "personal difficulties" he has faced.
His son, Alexander Mosley, was found dead at his luxury apartment May 5 after an accidental drug overdose.
The 69-year-old FIA president, the son of former British fascist leader Oswald Mosley, was at the center of a media frenzy last year when a tabloid newspaper reported he took part in a sadomasochistic orgy with five prostitutes in London. A video of the incident was widely circulated on the Internet.
Mosley successfully sued the News of the World for invasion of privacy.
The episode brought calls for Mosley's ouster as FIA president, but he won an overwhelming vote of confidence to stay on.
Here's the analysis from our friends at the BBC...
...in the wake of his dispute with the Formula 1 Teams' Association he says he would be happy to run for a fifth term.
"It is for the FIA membership to decide on its elected leader," he said. "Over recent weeks it has become increasingly clear that one of the objectives of the dissident teams is that I should resign as president of the FIA. Last year you offered me your confidence and, as I wrote to you on 16 May 2008, it was my intention not to seek re-election in October this year. However, in light of the attack on the mandate you have entrusted to me, I must now reflect on whether my original decision not to stand for re-election was indeed the right one.
"It is for the FIA membership, and the FIA membership alone, to decide on its democratically elected leadership, not the motor industry and still less the individuals the industry employs to run its Formula 1 teams."
Formula 1's ((racing at Silverstone is pictured, thanks AFP file)) governing body and Fota have become embroiled in an increasingly bitter feud over Mosley's presidency and his plans for the 2010 season, which include budgetary and technical changes that have been met with opposition by Ferrari, Brawn GP, McLaren, Red Bull, BMW Sauber, Toyota, Renault and Toro Rosso.
It led to those eight teams - under the umbrella of Fota - to threaten to quit Formula 1 and establish a rival series next season - a move that Mosley claims "is an attack on the FIA's right to regulate its Formula One world championship".
"But, worse," adds Mosley in a letter written on Tuesday and addressed to all FIA member clubs, obtained by BBC Sport, "it is a wholly unjustified criticism of, and direct challenge to, the entire structure and purpose of the FIA.
"No president of the FIA could allow this to go unanswered. We are also preparing legal proceedings in case these are needed to protect the FIA's rights in its championship and to discourage any dissident Formula One team from engaging in illegal acts."
It is likely those writs will now be processed after Wednesday's planned meeting of the World Council.
Explaining the reasoning behind his battle with Fota, Mosley added: "A reduction in costs is essential if the independent teams are to survive. Without the independent teams, the championship would depend entirely on the car manufacturers who, of course, have always come and gone as it suited them.
"It is extraordinary that at a time when all five manufacturers involved are in great financial difficulty and relying on taxpayers money, their Formula 1 teams should threaten a breakaway series in order to avoid reducing their Formula 1 costs.
"It remains to be seen whether the boards of the parent companies will allow precious resources to be wasted in this way."
However, Fota - to date - have proved united and defiant in the face of Mosley, with various Fota members confirming at the British Grand Prix a number of teams and circuits had been in contact, underlining the level of interest in a breakaway movement.
Here's Mosley sounding rather optimistic about issues with British racing's David Hill before the race at Silverstone weekend past...
FIA president Max Mosley said Sunday a deal is close to prevent eight Formula One teams forming a rival series and that legal action would be frozen to encourage a resolution.
Motor sport's governing body had said that proceedings would be issued without delay after the Formula One Teams Association decided to split on Friday when talks broke down to resolve a dispute over a voluntary 40 million pound (US$65 million) budget cap from next year.
But Mosley told The Associated Press at the British Grand Prix in Silverstone ((pictured, thanks AFP)) that progress has been made.
"There won't be any writ. I think we would rather talk than litigate," Mosley said. "We are very, very close as far as the facts are concerned. It's just if the teams want to sit down and iron out the last few difficulties."
The eight teams are McLaren, Ferrari, Renault, BMW Sauber, Toyota, Brawn GP, Red Bull Racing and Toro Rosso.
Mosley recognizes the need for a swift resolution, echoing McLaren chief Martin Whitmarsh's declaration on Saturday that any deal must come by the end of July.
"I would agree with that," Mosley said. "If this goes on for any length of time, it damages the teams. It doesn't affect the FIA, it damages the teams because it affects their sponsors."
What won't assist the peace talks is Mosley referring to the more hardline FOTA members as "loonies" who are "immoderate in their approach."
Bernie Ecclestone, F1's commercial rights holder, was happy at news of an agreement being close.
"If Max says (a deal) is close, then that's good," he said.
In another twist to the dispute, Brawn GP team principal Ross Brawn said if a resolution is not possible then FOTA could possibly make FIA take charge of its proposed series since it would come under its jurisdiction.
"You would need a regulatory body," Brawn said. "Ironically, I think the agreement with the European Commission is that the FIA has to offer to do that to any competitive series that wants to set up.
"So, the FIA have to offer to at least be the regulatory body, but they may not be the body that sets the rules. The rules can be determined by some other mechanism. If you want, the FIA can run the series for you. They can provide the stewards, the (scrutinizers) and things of that nature. So, that is available if FOTA wants to take it up."
Brawn GP was created only a few weeks before the start of this season using the infrastructure of Honda, which pulled out of F1. Brawn GP's Jenson Button tops the drivers' standings and the team is also leading the constructors' championship.
Brawn believes that smaller teams like his would need to receive help to compete in any new series.
"The FOTA organization, when the championship is created, will have to support the small teams," Brawn said. "They know it can't just exist on the manufacturers, so there has to be a structure that supports the small teams. So, I'm confident that that structure will be in place and will be able provide the funding that teams like mine need."
