JULY 3, 2006

Mosley and the GPMA

FIA President Max Mosley is due to meet with GPMA chairman Burkhard Goschel in Munich later today to discuss the ongoing issues in the disputes between the federation and the car manufacturers. The big question is whether or not Mosley will agree to compromise on some of the issues or whether the fight will then move to a new level. The manufacturers have made it clear that if there is no compromise there is likely to be legal action which could be very damaging to the FIA president - and to the federation itself - if it is successful. That would be a worst case scenario with both sides taking on expensive legal teams and probably years of fighting because this is not really about the details of 2007 or 2008 rules and regulations but rather a question of sporting governance. The FIA has the legal right to do a lot of things but if there are found to be abuses that power can be restrained by other authorities. There are other options for the FIA, such as moving the federation out from European jurisdiction but the damage that would be done to the credibility of the FIA if that was necessary would be an issue.

The Formula 1 Commission meets later this week in Paris to consider whether to apply the 2008 rules in 2007. It is important to understand that the commission is the old commission which is ruled by the existing Concorde Agreement and not the new 2008 commission and thus it cannot deal with any of the issues relating to 2008, which must eventually be addressed. The odd thing is that it might try to change the rules in 2007 to fall into line with 2008 rules which have not yet been confirmed and rubber-stamped.

All things considered this has the makings of a real mess and one would hope that those involved will think very carefully before diving head-first into more chaos. None of this helps the sport at a time when it should be addressing more important issues such as how to properly market the sport and find a new young audience as other sports get stronger.