Red Bull and Ferrari break away from FOTA

Ferrari and Red Bull Racing have decided to withdraw from the Formula One Teams' Association (FOTA) on the back of the ongoing row over the Resource Restriction Agreement, AUTOSPORT can reveal.

Amid ongoing debate about the future of FOTA, with teams failing to agree a way forward for the RRA after a crunch meeting at the Brazilian Grand Prix, high level sources have revealed that both Ferrari and Red Bull Racing have lodged notification that they intend to leave the organisation.

It is understood that both teams wrote to FOTA earlier this week to inform them of their decision.

Neither Red Bull Racing nor Ferrari would comment on the situation when contacted by AUTOSPORT on Friday to discuss it.

A spokesman for FOTA confirmed only that the body had received notice from two teams that they no longer intended to be a part of it, but would not elaborate on which teams they were.

"FOTA confirms it has received the resignation of two teams," said a spokesman. "Whilst considering its next steps, FOTA will continue to work on behalf of its members to achieve the aims of the organisation."

FOTA's latest statutes mean that teams must give a two-month notice period to leave the organisation, which means Red Bull Racing and Ferrari will officially depart the body by the start of February next year - providing they do not change their mind.

Ferrari has viewed a deal over the RRA as key to FOTA's future - with Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali warning earlier this year that if a deal could not be reached to sort out cost controls within FOTA then the future of the body should be called into question.

Speaking at the Korean Grand Prix, Domenicali said: "If this [mistrust] will come out of FOTA activity then what is FOTA all about? We know the reason why FOTA started, and now we need to understand if FOTA is still needed. What are the objectives of the future of FOTA, if there is a future for FOTA?

"We need to do that in a very constructive way, a very open way. That is the discussion that I believe in the next weeks is important to take over."

Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner said at the same race: "I think that FOTA has reached the crossroads where it needs to deal with some of the key issues moving forward or we'll stop. It's as simple as that.

"The principal issues are obviously the Concorde Agreement, the direction that goes in, and fundamentally the RRA (Resource Restriction Agreement). If we can't find agreement within FOTA on that, then what is the purpose of FOTA?"

Although the main battleground between the teams has been over the RRA, and the departure of Ferrari and Red Bull Racing has been linked to this, AUTOSPORT understands that outfits are still working hard to try and find agreement on the matter.

Sources have revealed that the four biggest teams – Ferrari, Red Bull Racing, McLaren and Mercedes – have agreed to meet privately within the next fortnight to try and make progress on the RRA.

If these teams can resolve their differences, then the plan is to then return to other FOTA members with a solution that can then be implemented by all outfits


Source: autosport

Hope they manage to reach an agreement. A FOTA without Ferrari and Red Bull is pretty pointless.

These are the sort of areas where the FIA needs more powers IMO, to stop teams bickering over their own governance. Its like asking a bunch of greedy schoolkids to share their sweets fairly.

so whats this mean exactly - would they then pull out of F1?

fernando wrote:Ferrari and Red Bull Racing have lodged notification that they intend to leave the organisation.

Ferrari, Red Bull Racing, McLaren and Mercedes – have agreed to meet privately within the next fortnight to try and make progress on the RRA.

Same old story! They threaten to leave and within weeks an announcement says that an agreement has been reached and everyone moves on.

This wouldn't be Luca throwing the toys out of the pram again, would it?

Sauber has also now left FOTA and Toro Rosso are expected to leave in the near future

fernando wrote:Sauber has also now left FOTA and Toro Rosso are expected to leave in the near future

Sauber are just following the direction of their engine supplier Ferrari and it's hardly suprising Toro Rosso wishing to show their support to Red Bull. Both these teams don't have any issue with FOTA or the resource agreement in my opinion, there just jumping on the bandwagon on the guidance of the big teams in trying to pressurise FOTA into giving in to their demands. I don't think a single three day testing session during the season is also what the teams want so I expect this to rumble on for a while until an agreement is finally met. Red Bull & Ferrari cannot leave until February anyway, so I just think this is a news story to keep people interested in F1 during the off-season.

Don't forget about the 2-month notice period.

Anyone want to wager there will be a big announcement by the end of January, stating all the teams are back in FOTA? This just smacks of some early arm-twisting by Ferrari and Red Bull, to try and make sure they get what they want out of any new agreements, resource-related or otherwise.

In that sense I think another poster hit the nail on the head, when they said FOTA should only have been used to enable the teams to present a united front to FOM, to prevent too much outside interference.

Its ridiculous to expect the teams to police themselves when it comes to things like testing and budgets. The FIA lays down the law (as far as it can) with regard to car development restrictions. There should be a similar independent enforcement to ensure teams play by the rules on the financial side of things too.

It'd probably be expensive to implement and would still not be completely fool-proof, but at least it might make the teams more inclined to comply.

You cant have teams that police themselves, because then you'd need someone to police the police. Otherwise, who's to know if the police are not allowing certain things to happen within the team