The future of Formula One is again uncertain ahead of the German grand prix at the Nürburgring. Photograph: Mark Thompson/Getty Images
The man in charge of the Australian grand prix, Ron Walker, has warned that he will cancel next year's Formula One race at Albert Park if a threat by the top teams to pull out of the 2010 championship is carried out.
"You can just imagine if the likes of [Roger] Federer didn't turn up to the Australian Open, or if some of the best horses didn't come to the Melbourne Cup," said Walker. "It's the same scenario. The superstars sell tickets and if you don't have the superstars then ticket sales sag a bit."
The row between the Formula One Teams Association (Fota) and FIA president Max Mosley reignited yesterday when leading teams, including Ferrari, repeated their threat to form a breakaway series despite the sport's governing body insisting that a deal to end the long-running saga over regulations could be reached within days.
Fota representatives walked out of a meeting with the FIA on Wednesday after being told they had not been entered into the 2010 championship and would have no say in finalizing cost-cutting measures. In negotiating a solution last month, the teams signed on to reduce costs to 1990s levels if the 69-year-old Mosley agreed to stand down at the end his term in October.
The FIA said the Ferrari president Luca di Montezemelo had twice been made aware that the five teams who had signed up unconditionally to 2010 regulations – Williams, Force India, US F1, Campos Meta and Manor Grand Prix – would set cost-cutting rules for next year. Ferrari, McLaren, Renault, Toyota, Red Bull, Toro Rosso and Brawn GP all lodged conditional entries that they considered validated once they were admitted, which would allow them to vote.
When a solution was apparently negotiated in June, Walker said he was pleased that the Australian race, which had a downturn in attendance this year, would have the best teams in 2010.
"In our contract it is pretty clear that we have to have 16 cars in the grid and I don't think the government would want lesser names than Ferrari, BMW, Mercedes and Renault racing cars here," he said at the time.
Meanwhile, the head of BMW Sauber, Mario Theissen, has confirmed that Fota are keeping "all options open". Although there is confidence the matter will be resolved within the next fortnight, whilst a degree of uncertainty remains, so does the threat of a breakaway series.
"All parties are negotiating, almost permanently now, making slow but steady progress, but we are not there yet," said Theissen. "We still don't have an agreement, so we cannot sit back and wait. We have to keep all options open, which means we have to look at other courses [of action] as well."
Referring specifically to a breakaway, Theissen added: "We are still looking into this. We did stop for a few days [after agreement was reached] until we recognised we were not where we thought we were. There are some irritating elements that rocked the boat again, and that applies to us as well, so you cannot really be sure where you are.
"If you look at the overall picture, then we have made significant progress. We might come to a conclusion, as the FIA indicate, within a few days, it might take a few weeks, or we might finally find out there is no agreement and we have to prepare for other possibilities."
Theissen, though, felt the FIA's claim a resolution would be found "in the coming days" was perhaps being optimistic. Fota are currently refusing to sign a new Concorde Agreement – the confidential document that governs the commercial side of the sport – unless they have cast-iron assurances Mosley will not stand again for the presidency.
It has resulted in high-level talks taking place between the eight Fota teams and senior figures above Bernie Ecclestone at CVC, the commercial rights holders, who are determined to protect their £1.5bn asset. A breakaway series is ultimately being viewed as the last resort, as highlighted by the Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner.
"The thing that was compelling after the breakaway was announced was the amount of support that was forthcoming, pushing the teams to say 'Yeah, you've done the right thing. Go ahead,'" said Horner. "Ultimately for Formula One, there does need to be a solution, and it does need to be the Formula One world championship. No one will benefit from a breakaway unless a solution genuinely cannot be found."
The Toyota Motorsport president and Fota vice-chairman John Howett was another to confirm a rivals series was still on the cards. "It's still there, but we still have to act in a professional and sensible way," said Howett.
"I don't think we've ever taken it away. We've just put it on the backburner, although it is probably closer now than it was 24 hours ago. But we know exactly what we expect, what we need to get, and we are making positive progress."
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