The crisis could take a long time to resolve for the FIA

Following yesterday’s meeting between the governing bodies of F1 and the teams, Max Mosley admitted that the situation is unlikely to be resolved by May 29, the deadline to register for the championship.

The idea of two different technical regulations depending on budget management was rejected by the teams, gathered under the FOTA banner, and the members left the meeting to work together on new cost reduction proposals, without specifying any particular deadline.

« This could take all summer, » said Max Mosley on the BBC microphone. « In fact, no one will agree until late in the summer, when they will have to decide which car to build for 2010. »

The 2010 sporting regulations specify that the entry of a team, once the prescribed deadline has passed, will only be considered if a place is available and upon payment of a late arrival fee set by the FIA.

« If we don’t have enough entries to fill the grid, and that will probably be the case, they know they can come later, » continues Mosley in his interview. « There’s just a danger that we won’t have enough spots for outsiders. We will have to cross that bridge when we come to it. »

In parallel to the threats of five teams withdrawing from the competition, there are indeed a good number of new contenders who would like to enter F1, and who wish to have the budget cap validated to be able to race in the long term. A beautiful imbroglio!