The threat of a breakaway Formula One championship has not gone away despite a peace deal announced this week,motor racing chief Max Mosley warned on Friday. He called on FIA members to stand firm against the Formula One Teams Association (FOTA) and the manufacturers behind them. The FIA has to be free to confront the car industry whenever necessary, he said. No doubt we face a difficult period, added the Briton. This may well result in short-term problems in Formula One. It is possible that FOTA will set up an independent series. That is their right,provided they do so under the International Sporting Code, added Mosley. But the Formula One World Championship will continue to be run by the FIA as it has been for 60 years. The Championship has had difficult times in the past and no doubt will again in the future but that is no reason to hand control to an outside body. Mosley said one unnamed Formula One team had lobbied him wholly improperly to intervene earlier in the season to have the rear diffuser on Brawn cars declared illegal. The FIA Court would never listen to such an approach but it shows that for the team in question independent means independent of other teams and under the control of particular interests, he said.
