The future of the troubled Formula One Teams' Association is still not clear, after the remaining members of FOTA attempted to salvage the alliance following a number of high-profile defections from their ranks over the last week.
FOTA has been left reeling after a string of Formula One teams quit the association over the last fortnight.Red Bull and Ferrari announced their withdrawals last week, while Sauber have also confirmed that they are leaving FOTA earlier this week.
Furthermore, Toro Rosso are believed to be close to withdrawing, after the team failed to send a representative to crisis talks between the remaining members this week.
With HRT having left FOTA earlier last year, that would leave the organisation with just seven remaining members, McLaren, Mercedes, Renault, Team Lotus, Williams, Force India and Virgin Racing.
Talks this week failed to seal any sort of agreement on the future of the organisation, with little detail coming out after the debate.
"A lot of talks are going on but, so far, our team is still a member of FOTA," a Renault team spokesman told the BBC Sport website this week regarding the talks.
Meanwhile, a Force India spokesman was quoted as saying simply that: "There are ongoing meetings, so it is premature to comment at this stage."
The BBC Sport report also suggested that the Sauber and Toro Rosso teams have effectively been forced out due to their links with the already-withdrawn RBR and Ferrari teams.
Sauber have been long-time backers of Ferrari, running the Italian team's engines for a number of seasons.
Toro Rosso also use Ferrari power, and as the Red Bull junior outfit have close ties to both of the big-name FOTA withdrawals, something the report suggests has made their position in FOTA untenable.
Red Bull and Ferrari have bot indicated their eagerness to continue working on a deal over the future of the Resource Restriction Agreement, one of the main recent stumbling blocks for FOTA.
The organisation was originally set up by the teams in 2008 in order to present a united front in debates on the future of the sport with Bernie Ecclestone and the FIA.
But with the RRA debate having effectively been taken outside of the FOTA remit, a number of teams have questioned the need for the association in the future.
The remaining seven members are believed to still be working on salvaging FOTA, with reports suggesting that their tactics may involve trying to convinve those teams set to withdraw to reconsider their decisions.
All of the teams that have announced their withdrawal will not officially leave until the end of a two month notice period.
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