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NURBURGRING, Germany - The future of Formula One was once again plunged into uncertainty on Wednesday days away from the German Grand Prix when the fragile peace agreement struck a few weeks ago was shattered as the eight teams making up FOTA walked out of a meeting with the sport's governing body the FIA.
The FOTA teams - Ferrari McLaren, BMW Sauber, Renault, Toyota, Red Bull Racing, Toro Rosso and Brawn GP - were upset to be told by FIA official Charlie Whiting that they were not officially entered in the 2010 championship, contrary to what they thought had been agreed in Paris on June 24.
"During the course of this meeting (at Nurburgring), the team managers were informed by Mr Charlie Whiting of the FIA that, contrary to previous agreements, the eight FOTA teams are not currently entered into the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship and have no voting rights in relation to the technical and sporting regulations thereof," read a statement from FOTA.
"It will be remembered that all eight active FOTA members were included on the 'accepted' entry list as endorsed by the FIA World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) and communicated by FIA press statement on June 24.
"In light of these claims, the FOTA representatives requested a postponement of today's meetings. This was rejected on the grounds that no new Concorde Agreement would be permitted before a unanimous approval of the 2010 regulations was achieved.
"However, it is clear to the FOTA teams that the basis of the 2010 technical and sporting regulations was already established in Paris.
"At no point in the Paris discussions was any requirement for unanimous agreement on regulations change expressed. To subsequently go against the will of the World Motor Sports Council (WMSC) and the detail of the Paris agreement puts the future of Formula 1 in jeopardy.
"As a result of these statements, the FOTA representatives at the subsequent Technical Working Group were not able to exercise their rights and therefore had no option other than to terminate their participation."
The FIA, though, issued their own statement in which they claimed that FOTA had not complied with what had been agreed in Paris.
"All changes have now been agreed subject only to the maintenance of the minimum weight at 620 kg and the signing of a legally binding agreement between all the teams competing in 2010 to reduce costs to the level of the early 1990s within two years, as promised by the FOTA representative in Paris on June 24," read their statement.
"The eight FOTA teams were invited to attend the meeting to discuss their further proposals for 2010. Unfortunately no discussion was possible because FOTA walked out of the meeting."
The agreement in Paris involved 120 members of the FIA and came after weeks of bitter rowing between the two bodies which centred on the FIA's proposals for tough spending limits from next season.
The leading teams had threatened to split from the FIA and set up a rival series. At issue for the would-be breakaway teams were FIA plans to push through maximum budgets of 45 million euros per team - excluding driver wages and marketing costs - from 2010 onwards.
The German Grand Prix is set for this weekend.
- AFP /ls
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