Bernie Ecclestone has said he will not stand to watch F1 "disintegrate" over the current arguments dominating the sport, while Max Mosley has performed a volte-face and dropped the legal action against the breakaway teams.
As the sun sets on the British Grand Prix and attention turns back to the exciting subject of F1 destroying itself over the future direction of the sport, Ecclestone spoke with The Times newspaper in a frank interview and said that he was determined to bring an end to all this nonsense.
Ecclestone told the paper that: “I have given 35 years of my life and more to Formula One. My marriage broke up because of Formula One, so I am sure as hell not going to let things disintegrate over what is, in the end, basically nothing. If you analyse the problems, there aren’t any that can’t be easily solved.”
The FOTA teams announced plans for a breakaway series last week, and over the weekend it became apparent to the current F1 bosses that the teams had managed to secure the popular vote of the fans, and were also progressing swiftly on their efforts to shore up a provisional calendar and set of technical regulations for the new championship. There are also growing rumours that two of the teams who submitted entries to the 2010 F1 season, believed to be Lola and Prodrive, have defected to the FOTA series, in a move which would secure the new series at least 20 cars on their grid.
While FIA President Mosley has largely laughed off the increasingly possible split, even tactlessly calling the FOTA team bosses "loonies" in an interview with the BBC, Ecclestone has seen enough to jump into action. Although Mosley has inferred that negotiations could continue all the way up until the early part of next year, it is generally recognised that a breakthrough needs to happen by the end of July, before FOTA's plans begin to coalesce into a genuine tangible series.
Ecclestone spent the weekend reassuring the sport's partners and sponsors over the spat, while also attempting to open a dialogue between the FIA and the rebel teams. Ecclestone has close ties with the FOTA side, in particular Renault boss Flavio Briatore. The pair own a majority stake in the London-based Queeen's Park Rangers football club.
Meanwhile, the increasingly under-pressure Mosley has had another public change of heart, announcing that he would drop plans to sue the breakaway teams in favour of re-opening discussions with them.
"There won't be any writ," Mosley told the press at Silverstone, "I think we would rather talk than litigate. 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 idea of being close to a deal as dismissed by the teams, but the eight FOTA members have apparently informed Ecclestone that they would be happy to sign back up for F1, should Mosley be removed from his position as FIA president. Mosley is expected to announce his candidacy for another term in charge of the governing body at the World Motor Sport Council meeting on Wednesday.
A senior FOTA source has apparently said that FOTA's priority is to get rid of Mosley's "autocratic style of governance", with the wholesale imposition of the £40 million budget cap for 2010 given as an example of that. Should the FIA remove Mosley from his role, the teams then say they will talk to Ecclestone directly about a further list of moans and complaints they have, predictably revolving around money, but also addressing issues like the lack of a North American event and the fees imposed on circuit promoters, which has led to inflated ticket prices in recent years.
The rebel teams are meeting on Thursday to discuss the format and scope of their new series. It is unclear if Bernie will try and resolve the issue before the breakaway plans gain momentum at that meeting.
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