Threat of F1 breakaway series revived

By Alan Baldwin

LONDON (Reuters) - The threat of a breakaway Formula One series loomed again Wednesday after Ferrari and seven other teams walked out of talks in Germany with the governing body and warned that the sport's future was at risk.

"The eight FOTA (Formula One Teams Association) teams were invited to attend the meeting to discuss their further proposals for 2010," the International Automobile Federation (FIA) said in a statement.

"Unfortunately, no discussion was possible because FOTA walked out of the meeting."

FOTA, who had threatened to set up their own championship until what seemed to be a breakthrough deal was announced in Paris last month, said in a statement that the future of Formula One was again "in jeopardy."

FOTA's members are championship leaders Brawn GP, BMW-Sauber, Ferrari, McLaren, Red Bull, Renault, Toro Rosso and Toyota.

The technical working group session, at the Nuerburgring before Sunday's German Grand Prix, had been due to bring together FOTA, the three new entrants for 2010 plus Williams and Force India who are suspended from FOTA.

However FOTA said they had been told during the course of Wednesday's meeting by FIA technical head Charlie Whiting that "contrary to previous agreements" they had no voting rights because they had not yet fully entered for 2010.

The situation effectively left the five non-FOTA teams, four of whom have yet to score a point in Formula One, making decisions while the likes of Ferrari, champions with an unbroken 60 years in the sport, would have been simply observers.