Word: fia
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...like evolution governed by an appeals committee: winning races has long relied on engineering innovations that give a race car that extra microsecond advantage, while the teams left in the dust cry foul and demand that the sport's governing body, the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), rule those innovations out. FIA supremo Max Mosley had hoped to tamp down what he calls the sport's "financial arms race" by imposing a $66 million annual spending cap on teams, but instead he appears to have provoked a walkout that could see some of the sport's major names, such...
...three seconds off a lap time. Moreover, the manner in which the plans came about has also put teams in a spin. Not having been consulted sufficiently by the governing body, Renault said in its own statement, it was now refusing "to accept unilateral governance handed out by the FIA." (See pictures of the American muscle car in the movies...
...deadline for entering next season expires on May 29; after all, few sports can rival Formula One for its history of posturing. Ferrari, the only team to have competed since the series began in 1950, threatened in the 1980s to leave for the Indianapolis 500. Drastic proposals by the FIA last year to introduce a standardized engine across all teams - a nonstarter for the likes of Ferrari - quickly looked like scare tactics aimed at exacting concessions elsewhere from the teams. "Formula One is Ferrari, and Ferrari is Formula One," Bernie Ecclestone, the sport's commercial-rights holder, said in response...
That may be, but deeper issues remain. For a sport eager to attract more teams and sponsors - owing to financial pressures, some of each have left the sport in recent months - the arguments and uncertainty do little for Formula One's appeal. With the FIA already having raised the budget cap from $45 million under pressure from the teams, "it's wrong that it has become such a public debate," says Jackie Stewart, a three-time Formula One world champion and ex-team boss. "It's unsettling for the marketplace...
...uncertainty reflects poorly on those in charge of the sport - essentially Ecclestone and the FIA. The snafu "brings to light that there's no real professional process in place to agree on the future" of Formula One, says the former adviser. Stewart agrees. "There's got to be a restructuring of the governing body to project more stability," he says, "to take it through the long term." For now, fans will just be hoping that that future includes Ferrari...