There May Be Trouble Ahead

Well, it was always going to happen wasn't it? The Sporting Working Group voted over the weekend to scrap the engine homologation rules but unsurprisingly, this has now been rejected" by Max Mosley. According to Max: "By entering the championship, a team accepts the regulations as published and, of equal importance, is entitled to rely on them when deciding whether or not to enter." Thats true enough and sounds reasonable. But then, errr.... whats the point of the Sporting Working Group Max?

It seems that Max is going out of his way to protect the interests of the minority here. The SWG motion was passed by majority vote with Ferrari, the two Red Bull teams and Prodrive voting against. Significantly, independents Super Aguri, Midland and Williams voted for the motion. Max Mosley cites spiralling costs as a reason to overrule the SWG together with protecting those teams that had entered the championship on the basis of the published rules. Funny how the 3 independents didn't seem to be very concerned by "costs."

Its also very significant that Max Mosley had said that he would stand by whatever changes and proposals were made by the SWG. Well, looks like he's gone back on his word saying that teams entered the 2008 world championship agreed to abide by the rules as published.

And this will greatly upset the manufacturers. Do I hear the sound of MOU pages being ripped apart? Its a real pity. The SWG process provided a mechanism to decide on the rules in a very fair manner. In the words of Ron Dennis, it was a very democratic process. After years and years of requiring a unanimous decision to change anything (as required by the Concorde Agreement) here was a way to ensure that things got done and done in a proper manner.

Well, it looks like it was all for show. I guess Max was hoping the SWG would publicly reaffirm his position and show people that he can be a reasonable man. But in the face of a major U-turn by the majority, he's gone and shown his true colours once more. Quite where this leaves Formula 1 is anybody's guess.

An excellent article appears on GrandPrix.com explaining the issue in greater detail. And if you receive Racefax, you should check out the latest in your mailbox.