Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone has apparently broached the possibility of forming a breakaway series in the wake of the sex scandal involving FIA president Max Mosley.
Ecclestone met for more than two hours late on Friday with F1 team bosses at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, site of Sunday’s Canadian Grand Prix. He reportedly brought up the idea of breaking away from the FIA, which has governed the sport for its entire 58-year history, and also to tried to work out details of a new concorde agreement for F1, on which some of the teams have been slow to reach accord.
Ecclestone, the commercial rights holder in F1, verified the meeting and the topics when talking to media members on Saturday morning at the track.
A senior team official was quoted in Britain’s Daily Telegraph on Saturday, saying, ”We provide the drivers and sponsors. Bernie has the circuits and TV. Max is just the referee. The FIA blows the whistle.”
Mosley has faced calls for his resignations since a British tabloid published photos and a video of him visiting five sex workers in London. However, he has remained in charge and earlier this week won a contentious vote of confidence, a decision that threatens to divide motor racing’s worldwide governing body.
Soon after Mosley was given permission to remain as president until October 2009 — when his fourth term ends — the German motoring federation broke off its cooperation with the FIA and the Dutch body criticised smaller clubs for letting monetary issues influence their vote.
The 68-year-old Englishman won a secret ballot 103-55 — with seven abstentions and four invalid votes — at a specially convened assembly in Paris.
The German, American, Japanese, French, Australian and Spanish auto federations all voted against Mosley, while federations from Finland, Canada and Sweden were among 24 club members that had publicly come out against Mosley before the vote.
In the wake of that dissatisfaction with Mosley’s continued leadership of the FIA, Ecclestone reportedly discussed the possibility of forming a new series outside of the FIA umbrella.
Ecclestone and Mosley have been longtime allies, but the scandal prompted Ecclestone to say the FIA boss should step down for the good of the sport.
They have also disagreed over the renewal of the concorde agreement, under which F1 is run. Ecclestone has said he wants to see a new agreement in place with Mosley’s blessing and signature, but the FIA boss has repeatedly said there are still major issues to be worked out before such an agreement can be put in place.
This is not the first time that there has been the threat of a breakaway series.
In 2004, the Grand Prix World Championship, which later became the Grand Prix Manufacturers’ Association — which included Honda, Renault, Toyota, DaimlerChrysler and BMW — proposed a new series after disagreements with Ecclestone about the future of F1.
The GPMA failed when Ferrari came to terms with Ecclestone, opening the door for other teams to follow suit. – Sapa-AP