Zoom A deal to di Montezemolo's and FOTA's liking

Ferrari on Wednesday claimed victory in F1's political battle on behalf of the Formula One Teams Association.

Although Ferrari President Luca di Montezemolo was more magnanimous in Paris, while the departing Max Mosley insisted there were no losers, a document distributed shortly afterwards by the Italian team claimed a clear outcome.

Ferrari said the 2010 season will be "a championship ... which will held, as required by FOTA, in the spirit of sport and technological competition, with clear and certain rules and a transparent governance."

The Maranello-based team, to now call off its threat to break away from the official category with seven other major teams, said the outcome had been achieved because the World Motor Sport Council "accepted the proposals formulated by FOTA."

Mosley's impending departure, and his immediate replacement on F1 matters by Michel Boeri, was also intimated by Ferrari in insisting that FOTA's objective was to "avoid continuous (rule) changes decided by one person alone."

Ferrari also denied any backdown on the issue of cost reduction, insisting that the unwinding of budgets to early 90s levels was "constantly promoted" by FOTA. "

Relief was the F1 community's buzzword on Wednesday, elucidated best by RTL, the German free-to-air broadcaster that was worried about the sport's impending United States-style series split.

"We were always confident that the two sides would agree in the end, because the differences between them were outweighed by the common interest," spokesman Mathias Bolhofer said.

However, several broadcasters currently contracted with F1 television coverage had strongly hinted that they were looking into the possibility of presenting the eventual FOTA-created series as well.

With FOTA fielding eight established teams in addition to world-renowned star drivers, and enjoying public support of its initiatives, the notion that the new series would outshine Formula One was very real.

But now that the F1 world has avoided a split and the war has been concluded, healing the wounds is the priority.

"Formula one is a fantastic sport and has to be relaunched, not only protected," Ferrari's di Montezemolo said earlier today.

D.B. © CAPSIS International
Source: GMM