The FIA must compromise

Another week on and still the cold war continues. Crisis talks have met with no success, and the deadline for entry to next year's championship is approaching fast. But the FIA is misguided if it thinks it holds all the cards.

Even if Bernie Ecclestone is correct in suggesting that the two-tier system - one of the main sources of contention - will be scrapped, the 2010 regulations are still in limbo. It will be hard to persuade the big manufacturers to sign up to the championship until the rules themselves - meaning everything from the proposed budget cap to the technical framework itself - are set in stone.

Similar concerns have also been expressed by David Richards, chairman of the Prodrive outfit, who has long proposed a foray into F1. But he is unwilling to apply until the FIA/FOTA dispute is resolved and the regulatory future of F1 is decided. Such a stance is understandable. After all, Formula One is a risky venture even at the best of times, but it is even riskier if one is venturing into the unknown.

If the same stance is taken up by even some of the other potential new entrants, then the FIA will be left in a challenging situation. At the moment it is still sticking to its guns, warning teams that there may not be enough places remaining in the 2010 championship if they submit their entries after May 29. But in the present climate it is hard to imagine that will be the case.

With only nine days to go and no sign yet of any agreement, it seems all but certain that the deadline will have to be relaxed. The FIA must compromise. If it does not, it may find itself not just without the major manufacturers, but without a viable series at all.

Photo reproduced under the Creative Commons Atrribution 2.0 license from an image uploaded to Flickr.com by mujitra.