Zoom Heidfeld attending the FOTA meeting in Turkey

Nick Heidfeld believes it is time for F1's political saga to stop. "Some people think it has gone for too long and now I agree with them," he said at Silverstone on Thursday, 24 hours before the deadline for FOTA teams to join the 2010 entry list.

The BMW Sauber driver thinks that while high-stakes struggles are nothing new, this one has now entered a phase ‘where it is damaging’ the sport.

"From the outside it seems that the positions of both sides are understandable," he said. "Finding a solution is difficult, but if it goes on for longer, then the sport will be damaged.”

As for whether his loyalty for next year would be to Formula One, or to the manufacturers like his current – but perhaps not 2010 - employer BMW, Heidfeld answered that he would need to assess ‘which teams are in what series’.

He stopped short of predicting what is going to happen on Friday. "I would be surprised if there is another deadline, but I could imagine it," said the 32-year-old. "I am not sure even the people who are involved know really what is going to happen."

Meanwhile, 1999 championship runner-up Eddie Irvine on Thursday played down reports that the crisis threatens to tear the sport apart.

"The series isn't going to split," the Ulsterman told Sky News. "There's going to be a deal somewhere in the middle."

E.A. © CAPSIS International
Source: GMM