The useless olive branch offered by FOTA this morning, for a deadline extension in return for the same proposals they offered 3 weeks ago, has been batted away by Max Mosley, who has responded with his own recycled offer to the teams.
In a sign that the FIA/FOTA spat has now become so dull, that even both sides actually involved in it have run out of new points to make, Max Mosley has reiterated his original deal to the FOTA teams, namely that he would be happy to discuss changes to the Concorde Agreement and the governance of the sport, but only after the teams drop their conditional entries.
Mosley rejected the offer from FOTA to delay the deadline for removing the conditions from this Friday to July 1st, along with a generic suggestion that Cosworth detune their new spec engine plant for the new teams, but did say that he would be willing to discuss a compromise. Which he's been saying for ages.
In a return letter to the FOTA teams, possibly delivered by some sort of supersonic carrier pigeon, Mosley stated that without the time to construct a new Concorde Agreement by this Friday's deadline, the 1998 version of the agreement could be used instead. Whether this is a clever piece of satire over the sense of 'just a little bit of history repeating' over this whole row is unclear.
"If we start to modify the governance provisions of the 1998 Concorde Agreement, a lengthy discussion will begin," Mosley said, palpably delighted at the prospect of more lengthy discussions, "There is no time left for this because we must answer the remaining applicants for 2010 no later than Friday. Our proposal is therefore that all parties agree to accept the 1998 governance provisions by means of an exchange of letters. We can then negotiate a new 2009 Concorde Agreement under the protection of the 1998 arrangement."
He added, in a line that the teams may well use to describe the ongoing leadership of Mosley and Ecclestone in the sport: "After all, we lived with these for ten years; a few more weeks or months should not cause any difficulty."
On the subject of FOTA's thrilling auditing theories, namely that independent accountants be used to check that teams are complying with the budget cap rather than using a central, FIA-sanctioned firm, Mosley stated that the FIA had already suggested such a plan. He also said that it was vital that teams agree to an initial budget ceiling of £40 million, with the possibility remaining for that to be adjusted in the future, in order to establish a "clear figure" with which the sport will have to work with.
"A fundamental problem with the FOTA proposal was the absence of a clear figure. The teams need to know what the constraints are, so do we," Mosley yawned, "We therefore propose that you accept the 2010 rules, as published, which we agreed with you last year. If necessary, these can be revised with the above governance procedures in due course."
In a major step forward, Mosley confirmed that there would be no "two-tier" aspect to next year's rules, with the budget cap in whatever shape it finally takes representing the definitive rules package for all entries. He ended the tome by confirming again his desire to see the teams sign up as soon as possible, to the point that he has sent every team an rsvp letter.
"We will shortly send a letter for signature to each team. If signed and returned, the letter will make the above proposals legally binding and the relevant team's entry unconditional."
The F1 world awaits the next letter from FOTA with baited breath.
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