Written by:
SPEED Staff / GMM
Luca di Montezemolo FOTA Chairman. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
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Formula One's brief peace was shattered on Wednesday as the FOTA walked out of a meeting with the governing body in an F1 Technical Working Group in Germany.
According to the FIA, the meeting ahead of the German Grand Prix at the Nurburgring was to seek the agreement of all 13 2010 teams to scrap the proposed budget cap rules and replace them with a "legally binding agreement ... to reduce costs" to early 90s levels within two years.
"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," the Paris federation said in a statement.
FOTA, representing every 2010 team except Williams, Force India and the three new entrants, gave a different account, saying that the FIA's Charlie Whiting informed them that they "are not currently entered into the 2010 ... world championship and have no voting rights in relation to the technical and sporting regulations thereof".
Representatives of the rebel group requested the meeting be postponed but "this was rejected". FOTA denies part of the Paris peace deal in late June was the requirement "for unanimous agreement on regulations change".
"To subsequently go against the will of the WMSC (World Motor Sport Council) and the detail of the Paris agreement puts the future of Formula One in jeopardy," said FOTA.
The eight FOTA teams said they had "no option other than to terminate their participation" in the FIA meeting.
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