RACECAR BUSINESS
Teams’ association torn apart as two top threaten to quit
T
he Formula One Teams’ Association, FOTA, was in disarray as Racecar
Engineering went to press, following the announcements that three of its member teams, including front-running outfits Ferrari and Red Bull, intended to quit the organisation. Red Bull, Ferrari and Sauber all announced they were leaving FOTA and, at the time of writing, Toro Rosso was also expected to announce its intention to leave, having failed to send a representative to a FOTA meeting set up to discuss the situation. The teams will not actually
quit until February, so, as of now, have merely given notice of departure, but this will ultimately mean that five of the 12 teams in Formula 1 (HRT left the organisation in 2010) will no longer be part of the association. FOTA was set up in 2009 to give the teams a collective voice in Formula 1 negotiations.
There is no stated clear
reason why the teams wish to quit, but recently there has been discord within the FOTA ranks over the Resource Restriction Agreement (RRA). However, both Ferrari and Red Bull insist they are still serious
not covered such as engines.’ It’s now widely believed that
the top four teams – Ferrari, Red Bull, McLaren and Mercedes – are to hammer out a new RRA agreement between themselves, something which Red Bull team principal, Christian Horner, hinted
“both Ferrari and Red Bull
insist they are serious about controlling costs”
about controlling costs in F1. Ferrari said as it announced its intention to quit the organisation: ‘Ferrari will continue to work with the other teams to make the current RRA, aimed at controlling costs, more effective and efficient, modifying it to make it more stringent in key areas such as aerodynamics, to re-balance some aspects such as testing and to expand it to areas currently
at in Brazil: ‘We met this morning and it has been decided that the RRA has effectively been taken out of FOTA for the time being, to try and achieve a solution,’ Horner said. ‘I think an RRA is important for Formula 1 and I think all the teams are unanimous on that. The thing that isn’t quite clear is how to achieve it in a way that fits everybody’s business models. Some of the teams are different,
and I think the key thing for us is that the treatment and transparency of it is consistent and obvious and probably needs to go beyond the chassis and incorporate the engine as well.’ As the teams are bound
into FOTA until February, there is a possibility that they will be persuaded to stay. There is also a possibility that the announcements are simply politically motivated bluffs, noting that Ferrari supplies both Sauber and Toro Rosso with engines, while the latter is also the sister outfit of Red Bull. A weakened teams’
association is sure to suit F1 commercial rights holders, Bernie Ecclestone, and CVC Capital Partners as negotiations for a new Concorde Agreement get closer. The tripartite agreement between CVC, the FIA and the teams is due for renewal in 2013 and talks between all parties are set to begin in earnest this year.
Red Bull and Ferrari have announced their intention to pull out of FOTA, as has Ferrari-backed team Sauber, while Torro Rosso is expected to follow suit
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www.racecar-engineering.com • February 2012
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