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FIA agrees to change rules for 2010 if teams commit

FORMULA One's governing body has made teams a final offer, with changes to the controversial 2010 rules, in a bid to prevent the sport from tearing itself apart.

Five of the existing 10 teams - championship leader Brawn, BMW-Sauber, McLaren, Renault and Toyota - risk exclusion if they do not sign up by today evening.

Should they fail to do so, there is a risk of them setting up a rival series with champion Ferrari and the two Red Bull teams also at loggerheads with the International Automobile Federation (FIA). Both sides are making last-ditch efforts to reach a compromise deal, however.

In a letter to the provisional teams yesterday, FIA president Max Mosley set out what the FIA was willing to concede in return for unconditional entries.

The terms effectively set in stone agreements reached before talks broke down this week, when the FIA said the regulations remained in force and accused the teams of wanting to take over the sport.

Changes included substituting an optional 40 million pound (US$65.59 million) budget cap with a 100 million euro one for 2010, that figure dropping to 45 million euros in 2011.

"There will be self-reporting of compliance using a reputable auditor," he added, in a move to overcome the manufacturers' resistance to opening their books to the governing body.

"Any suspicions of breach would be investigated by a mutually acceptable auditor of suitable standing."

Teams indicated on Wednesday that they were prepared to accept such an independent auditor.

Concorde Agreement

Mosley asked them to agree in return to be bound by the terms of the 1998 Concorde Agreement that has now expired. The agreement would run until the end of 2014 or the signing of a new one by all parties.

"Subject to approval by the FIA's world motor sports council, and by teams already having had their entries... accepted, it is intended that certain amendments... will be made to the 2010 Formula One sporting and technical regulations forthwith," said Mosley.

He added that the amendments were those agreed between the FIA and FOTA, the eight member teams association, at a meeting on June 11.

Mosley added that the FIA was "not averse" to the teams' proposals concerning the International Court of Appeal and was prepared to discuss that and associated changes to the statutes of the governing body.

So far, only former champion Williams and Force India have signed up unconditionally for 2010.

Three new teams have also entered.

(Agencies)




 

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