Rule Changes for the 2010 Season

[Totopupu]

Or, if people don't like medal system and with new teams in 2010 (near 26), it will be good to think at a system which gives points at 15 drivers for example.

It can be 1: 50, 2: 40, 3: 30, 4: 25, 5: 20, 6: 15, 7: 10, 8: 9, ....

[AzShadow]

Sure mistake it was They just tried to slip it through unnoticed but I guess they've scrapped the idea for now.

[Ali]

Toyota warns it may not lodge entry
Toyota has become the first team to confirm it is unlikely to enter the 2010 world championship unless 'significant' compromises are made to plans for a voluntary budget cap for next season. Amid increasing unhappiness from teams about the decision of the FIA to impose a two-tier budget cap system next year, with a number of outfits evaluating whether or not to hold back on entering the 2010 championship, Toyota president John Howett has said his team was currently not in a position to commit for next year. Teams only have until May 29 to confirm whether or not they will enter 2010, although there is a chance they could be allowed in at a later date.

"Under the rules as they are published, we cannot submit an entry," he told AUTOSPORT in an exclusive interview.

Spoiler:

"There are concerns about the governance process within the sport, that there are clearly prescribed areas of discussion within the sporting and technical rules and we don't feel they are being complied with.

"From Toyota's perspective there are a number of concerns that really need clarifications before we commit to the future. We want to be here. We believe we have been a good corporate citizen within the F1 environment, but now we must reflect long and hard on what we do in the future."

When asked to clarify what the chances were of Toyota lodging an entry by the end of this month, Howett said: "I would say it is very likely we won't enter unless something changes significantly."

AUTOSPORT understands that FOTA members have discussed the possibility of a block boycott of entries for 2010 while discussions between teams and the FIA continue about implementing a future budget cap that is acceptable to everyone.

Furthermore, high level sources have hinted to AUTOSPORT that Ferrari is seriously evaluating a future outside F1 - having been left furious at both the imposition of a budget cap and the manner in which it has been introduced.

There are suggestions that some teams believe the FIA using last week's FIA World Motor Sport Council to push through the 2010 regulations went against official protocol - and also could be a breach of a 'veto' right that Ferrari is believed to have relating to future regulation changes it received as part of an agreement signed with Bernie Ecclestone and the FIA in 2005.

It is this right that di Montezemolo is believed to have been referring to in a letter he sent to FIA president Max Mosley last week detailing an agreement Ferrari had with the FIA confirming that the team would maintain contractual rights that existed under the 1998 Concorde Agreement.

"As you know additional rights were also granted to Ferrari on the same occasion and reconfirmed at a later stage," added di Montezemolo.

While time is running out for teams to settle their differences with the FIA, Howett conceded that his outfit felt comfortable about the possibility of switching to other categories.

In recent months, the Japanese manufacturer has been linked with a return to Le Mans – having last raced there in 1999. The company is believed to feel it has unfinished business at the French classic, having failed to win with its GT-One car.

Coincidentally, Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo is to be the official starter at this year's Le Mans race amid suggestions he too could be seeing sportscars as the future for his team's racing programme.

Howett said: "I believe there are many other activities that we could undertake. We are a motorsport team and I think we are not against cost saving, we are not necessarily against budget cap but it depends how it is administered.

"It is value that is intrinsically important. What is the value of the environment we are competing in? There are many alternatives we can consider.

"Our real heart is to remain in F1, but now we have to start considering what are the best alternatives and discussing with the other manufacturer teams what their opinion is and what their intentions are."

FOTA is still pressing ahead with plans to implement dramatic cost cuts in F1, and hopes to submit proposals to the FIA within the next fortnight.

Howett added: "I think within Toyota we are really relaxed. We want to remain here, we want to be here next year, but if it is felt we are not welcome then we have got lots of other things we can do.

"We can be as competitive and happy doing that, so hopefully common sense will prevail. But we are becoming increasingly concerned about whether common sense does exist."

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http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/75164

***********

Even the main topic is Spanish GP, there are lots of things going on behind the doors:

Whitmarsh: F1 at a 'critical' point
"I think we will keep our opinions to ourselves," he explained. "I think really making those sorts of comments [referring Toyota's threat] probably isn't helpful. "What F1 needs is a good sense coming together, and working together. I think there is enough challenge in F1 without us creating other problems for the sport. "Clearly as is normal in life, there are a range of opinions, and the teams should be able to discuss that privately amongst themselves and engage in constructive conversations with the FIA. Holding that discussion via the media is not right the quite way for us to get a good outcome."

Spoiler:

McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh believes Formula 1 is at a 'critical' point, with a boycott by manufacturers of lodging entries to the 2010 championship looking increasingly likely unless progress is made with the FIA in the next few weeks.

Although rival outfits have not joined Toyota's public confirmation that they will not lodge an entry to next year's championship by this month's deadline unless the rules are changed, there is intense debate going on behind closed doors about what to do.

Members of the Formula One Teams' Association (FOTA) held a two-hour meeting in the Toyota motorhome at Barcelona on Sunday morning, and it is expected that the teams will meet again next week to discuss their next plan of action.

Speaking about the situation going forward following this week's two FOTA meetings, Whitmarsh said: "I think we are at a critical time for F1.

"FOTA has made a lot of progress, you never make as much progress as you want in these situations. I think that was the case this week, and we've got to continue to work together.

"It is inherently healthy and right for F1 that for the first time in the history of F1, the teams are sitting down and having sensible conversations about the health and wellbeing of our sport. There is a lot of challenge there and we have to continue to press."

Whitmarsh felt that Toyota's confirmation about its intention for the 2010 entry was not helpful to the situation, however, as the teams and the FIA seek a solution to the current dispute.

"I think we will keep our opinions to ourselves," he explained. "I think really making those sorts of comments probably isn't helpful.

"What F1 needs is a good sense coming together, and working together. I think there is enough challenge in F1 without us creating other problems for the sport.

"Clearly as is normal in life, there are a range of opinions, and the teams should be able to discuss that privately amongst themselves and engage in constructive conversations with the FIA. Holding that discussion via the media is not right the quite way for us to get a good outcome."

Whitmarsh was not the only team principal keen to keep the matter behind closed doors. When asked about his team's situation regarding an entry for 2010, BMW motorsport director Mario Theissen said: "Our position is to talk about it within FOTA next week and then to announce what we do."

Although there is deep unhappiness about the possibility of a two-tier F1, Whitmarsh did concede that there was not full blown resistance to a budget cap.

"We operate with one now, and it is the one that the shareholders give me to go motor racing," he said. "Anyone who says they are not operating a budget cap is operating in an artificial world. There is a cap on what we can spend going motor racing.

"So the concept isn't foreign to any of us. At the moment F1 has to recognise the real challenges, even if you are part of a team that is facing a less of a fiscal challenge. It is important that we keep 10 teams or more in F1."

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http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/75205

[Rachael The Great]

thats a LOT of changes. is there normally that many?
i think the no refuelling is a good idea and the 20+ cars on the grid.
although i'm still against the whole 'number of race wins become world champion' rule.

[Ali]

thats a LOT of changes. is there normally that many?
i think the no refuelling is a good idea and the 20+ cars on the grid.
although i'm still against the whole 'number of race wins become world champion' rule.

In 2009, we've had awful amount of changes in regulations compared to 2010. In that sense, these are not that much as quantity-wise but on quality-wise are as important as 2009's.

[impatientinventor]

so we will be seeing an AWD F1 car that can have 120 HP worth of KERS next year? Can anyone put that kind of a package together in 9 months inside of the budget constraints?

[Ali]

so we will be seeing an AWD F1 car that can have 120 HP worth of KERS next year? Can anyone put that kind of a package together in 9 months inside of the budget constraints?

What is more, can (or will) KERS manufacturers provide that new KERS to budget capped teams who are not capable of manufacturing KERS?

[impatientinventor]

With an unlimited ammount of energy accepted by the KERS for the Non-CRTs are they even necessary, will they do away with front brakes completely?

[Ferrariman60]

This whole notion of the championship going to the winner of the most races is completely bogus. There is nothing wrong with the current points system.

[phil1993]

Red Bull and Toro Rosso won't enter 2010

"If the proposed rules for 2010 stay unchanged, we will not take part in the 2010 championship,"- Dietrich Mateschitz "Teams of manufacturers will no longer take part," he added. "Of the current teams, only two or three will remain."

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http://f1.gpupdate.net/en/news/2009/05/11/red-bull-suggests-f1-departure/

[AzShadow]

It's the two-tier championship that annoys the teams the most and I'm pretty sure Bernie will do something to change it. He won't let the manufacturers go away, especially Ferrari amongst them.

[JoostLamers]

Yeah, they have to sort this out, it'll be a disaster if all those teams will leave F1 and we'll get back teams like Team USA and Lola. We don't want that! We want competition and if especially Ferrari and besides them BMW, RBR and Toyota will leave, then the competition is pretty much gone. Formula 1 is supposed to be the best of the best, and without those teams it's not the best of the best anymore.

I heard they'll (FOTA and Max Mosley) meet again just before the GP of Monaco, to discuss mainly the budget-cap (the two-tier tail) and other arguably rules, I think.

[impatientinventor]

Perhaps Bernie and Max see this as the only way out of the financial crisis... Kick everyone out, make new teams pay for own travel for the first year, and pocket the purse money like he did with Honda but for all of them. Not a bad way to go... Screw the sport get out of debt and keep a but load of cash.

I don't thin they will do it but it is quite the scam he has going... It is pay to play on top of if you don't I get to keep your chips.

[sweet16]

I may be totally alone in this but I think F1 should go back to the way it was in1997. No KERS, not fancy wings and simple aerodynamics without the cars looking so ugly as they do in 2009

[milo of croton]

The rule change that the greatest number of wins decides the world title is c**p, in my opinion. The FIA could change the points system which the first 15 or 20 drivers get points.

What I can't understand, that the FIA had the old points system (10-6-4-3-2-1) changed to the actually system (10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1), that the drivers get more points. Today the victory is not high paid just because of the two points gap between the winner and the second. Why don't they give for the first 15 or 20 drivers points?