Left field

Who should replace Mosley if he does go?

I asked Max Mosley at a lunch before the start of the Formula One season whether there was anyone masochistic enough to want to take on his job. He laughed.

“Maybe that’s the qualification, that you’ve got to be into that little world…” the FIA president chuckled.

It had looked definite that he was retiring in October after a deal with teams to avert a breakaway series on Wednesday but he has since said he is annoyed by comments by the teams to the media and suggested that he could rethink his decision to stand down.

If he does leave, one suspects the members of the Paris-based International Automobile Federation are likely to choose somebody rather more straitlaced than Mosley, even if they did give him a resounding vote of confidence after his involvement in a sado-masochistic sex scandal last year.

Who that might be is the big question in motorsport circles, at least outside of America.

Former Ferrari boss Jean Todt has been touted, although he would not be particularly palatable to the teams who want someone completely independent to oversee their sport.

Peace breaks out in Formula One

Formula One stepped back from the brink on Wednesday as FIA president Max Mosley agreed a compromise with FOTA, the Teams’ Association, to save the sport from a rival breakaway series.

The disagreement, which centred on Mosley’s plans to introduce a budget cap for the 2010 season, had threatened to end Formula One’s 60-year existence with eight teams including champions Ferrari prepared to walk away for good.

To the relief of Formula One fans and teams including McLaren, Red Bull and Brawn GP who all faced having to start again in what would have been a hastily arranged rival championship, Wednesday’s world motor sport council meeting in Paris has finally ended that threat.

The compromise comes about as Mosley also announced that he would not stand for re-election as FIA president, something many thought would have to happen for any agreement to be reached.

The controversy of a possible split has overshadowed the sport in recent weeks but hopefully attention can now return to a season which promises a championship showdown between Jenson Button’s Brawn GP and Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel.

Roll on Germany’s Nuerburgring.

Breaking news: Formula One steps back from the brink

A deal has been reached with Formula One teams to avoid a breakaway series next year, media reported FIA president Max Mosley as saying on Wednesday.

Mosley and eight teams had been at loggerheads over his plans to introduce a budget cap for 2010.

Mosley also said he would not stand for re-election as FIA president.

Formula One on the brink as eight teams threaten split

Formula One plunged into its biggest crisis in 60 years on Friday with eight of the 10 teams announcing plans to set up their own championship.

The teams association FOTA said BMW-Sauber, Brawn, Ferrari, McLaren, Red Bull, Renault, Toro Rosso and Toyota were united in a decision that would split the sport in two if carried through.

“The teams cannot continue to compromise on the fundamental values of the sport and have declined to alter their original conditional entries to the 2010 world championship,” said a statement.

“These teams therefore have no alternative other than to commence the preparation for a new championship which reflects the values of its participants and partners.”

Click here for the full story, and check back for more news as it happens on a decisive day for Formula One.

Formula One can name anything complicated … even a list

How complicated can an entry list be? Very, if its anything to do with Formula One.

On the piece of paper published by the governing FIA on Friday, there are 13 teams entered with a total of 26 cars. Simple as that.

Except five of the teams, including McLaren and championship-leaders Brawn, are only provisional because they don’t like the rules.

Of the other eight, three are confirmed but do not want to be. Ferrari, Red Bull and Toro Rosso say they should be provisional entries too and refuse to accept the FIA’s designation.

That leaves five undisputed unconditional entries, three of them new teams who have yet to produce a grand prix car but have convinced the governing body that they have the wherewithal to do it.

That also means that if, in a week’s time, there has been no breakthrough on the 2010 rules and governance of the sport, the eight members of the Formula One Teams Association FOTA could withdraw.

Can you imagine Formula 1 without Ferrari?

Ferrari’s threat to pull out of Formula One at the end of the year unless the governing body backs down on a planned budget cap sets the stage for what will be heated talks at the top of the sport over the coming weeks.

While the step appears dramatic, it is part of a war of wills between International Automobile Federation (FIA) president Max Mosley and the Formula One Teams Association (FOTA) led by Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo.

Tuesday’s development (see here for the full statement) sets out the battle lines before a likely meeting between the two men ahead of next week’s Monaco Grand Prix.

WHAT IS THE PROBLEM?

The FIA have proposed an optional 40 million pound ($60 million) budget cap for 2010 to encourage new teams to enter and safeguard the sport against the risk of more manufacturers pulling out after Honda’s departure in December.

Those teams accepting the cost cap will get greater technical freedom than those remaining with unlimited budgets, potentially creating a two-tier series.

Driver salaries, engines and marketing costs will be exempt from any cap, effectively making the overall budget closer to 60 million pounds for a small team like Force India — not very different to what they have now.

More trouble brewing in F1

Even in the often bizarre world of Formula One, this week’s points system controversy takes a bit of explaining.

Ultimately, inevitably it all comes down to politics.

The governing International Automobile Federation (FIA) wanted to show the Formula One Teams’ Association (FOTA) who called the shots while the teams were determined to demonstrate their own new-found unity and leadership.

So we now have a situation, at least as far as deciding the championship is concerned, where there has been a lot of indignation and hot air but nothing has actually changed from last season.

That is pretty much what the FIA wanted in the first place, embarrassing climbdown or no.

They weren’t too taken with Bernie Ecclestone’s Olympic-style medals idea and did not want the teams deciding the rules either.

The teams can claim to have won the day by forcing the FIA, who appear to have flouted their own rules in the first place, to backtrack on the “winner takes all” system but what have they actually achieved? Their proposal of giving more points to the race winner was still roundly rejected by the world motor sport council.

F1 set to put brakes on new scoring system

Formula One looks set to ditch controversial plans to award the championship to the driver who wins most races after the governing International Automobile Federation (FIA) performed a late U-turn on Friday.

“If, for any reason, the Formula One teams do not now agree with the new system, its implementation will be deferred until 2010,” the FIA said in a statement.

The teams made clear they were not in favour, accusing the governing body of ignoring the rules by imposing the new system.

The climbdown came less than a week before the start of first practice for next week’s season-opening Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.

Click here for the full story from Alan Baldwin…

FILE PHOTO: Ferrari’s Formula One driver Felipe Massa of Brazil smiles as he talks with journalists after taking pole position in the qualifying session for Sunday’s Brazilian F1 Grand Prix at Interlagos race track in Sao Paulo in this November 1, 2008 file photo. REUTERS/Bruno Domingos/

A Formula One starter for 10. Or should that be 12?

How many points will go to the winner of the Australian Formula One Grand Prix?

The season-opening race in Melbourne is less than two weeks away now but we still don’t know the absolute answer to what is after all a fairly straightforward question.

To be sure, we will have to wait until the governing International Automobile Federation’s world motor sport council meets on Tuesday.

The current scoring would have the winner taking 10 points, in a sequence of 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1.

However, the Formula One Teams Association (FOTA) said at a news conference in Geneva on March 5 that it had proposed changing that system with immediate effect to 12-9-7-5-4-3-2-1 to reward race winners more after Lewis Hamilton won last year’s championship despite winning fewer races than Ferrari’s Felipe Massa.

My hunch is that the FIA will decide that, since the sporting regulations have already been published for this season, the scoring change will have to wait — if it happens at all.

From what I understand, the FOTA proposal was agreed by a fax vote among the teams only on the day before it was presented (after being talked about since November) and without the blessing of the FIA or the commercial rights holder Bernie Ecclestone.