I don't mean any disrespect to anyone but I'm surprised at how many people are missing the struggle that's going on and think it's all about Bernie and Max making money. While I'm no fan of either of them I do think they see a real threat to the sport: the big manufacturers as taking over F1 (and yes, I see how that would effect Bernie's pocket book). A team either has a big manufacturer or its very existence is in doubt i.e. Williams. I have to believe this is why the FIA backed Brawn's rule interpretation. So even though the last fight about the cap might be viewed as a defeat for Mosely, he made some progress and making the manufactures support the independants. I don't know if the Cosworth scheme it true or if it's good or bad. Bbut if you want to make the sport less defendant on multi million pound budgets it makes sense to push for a standard engine (does anyone doubt that's the main reason for one tire manufacturer?). The risk is, in trying to make the sport less dependant on the big car makers and give the independent teams a fighting change, you might end up with a boring, restrictive series.

I suppose there is some sense in that but why does it have to be so underhand.

The sad thing is that this situation isn't a surprise

Some authorities will need to look into the various deals and people controlling the FIA. It is getting out of hand to the detriment of the sport.

Brown Envelopes maybe?

Unfortunately balooziggy, it's the only show in town and the manufacturers need it. If they didn't FOTA would have it's own series and not just be blowing hot air as all sensible pundits knew. I suspect if your team starts winning again, you may enjoy F1. Don't hold your breath, the Mac doesn't have a decent development driver to improve their position! That really is all they need. A driver.

In simple words it's Just BUSINESS & CHEATING. F1 is no longer a sport, sounds familiar?

Getting more like A1GP by the day!!!

haha, thats a good idea balooziggy. monty python FTW!!!

This is an absolute disgrace. I have no ill feelings towards Cosworth, I allways hoped that they would return in any form. However what the FIA have done is anti-competitive and I would say borderline illegal. How dare the FIA dictate to any team past or present, what engine they should use! Frankly, there needs to be a criminal investigation into the corruption of FIA as well as heads at the top rolling, starting with Mosely.

Who the hell wants to be associated with this crap now? Sponsors, drivers, tracks......they are all LAUGHING at F1 because of Mosley and Ecclestone!!!!

The perverted minds of Max and Bernie are not capable of looking after the sport. All they want out of F1 is to fill their own pockets and boost their egoistic characters

Wow, pretty amazing. If you put it all together with the recent Donnelley/Manor findings we have a conflict of interest, collusion with an engine manufacturer, coercive entry requirements, unfair business practices, serious ethical questions, etc.... all from an organization (the FIA) with no supposed business function. In the real world, or if the teams and manufacturers had any cojones, Moseley would be in prison by now. What are you waiting for FOTA?

Well said.... "balooziggy "The FIA should be the next theme for a Monty Python type movie, there is enough material to create a full blown TV series let alone a movie, from the backbiting and personal fornicating revelations to the absurdities that are publicly uttered"

The FIA are doing quite well: They are accused of a ristrict of trade by dictating which engines have to be used to join in, the Chief Steward has links with one of the favoured 3 who get a place next year, The Germans cancel a meeting with Bernie this coming week end because they are angry about his support for dictatorships. I wounder who the FIA will blame this time. They are bound to see it as some kind of conspiracy by the manufacturers

This is yet another example of how the FIA are trying to control how the teams run their business, just like they did with the budget cap. The FIA are a governing body and they should stick to rule making and technical regulations. The FA don't tell the football clubs how much money they can spend and what players that they should and should not buy so why should the FIA be able to tell the F1 teams how much money they can spend and what engines they can use? If teams want to reduce there costs then it should be voluntary. How can the FIA justify selecting Campos Meta 1 and Manor GP ahead of Lola and Aston Martin? Campos are currently running a team in the Spanish Formula 3 Championship and are owned by the former owner of the Barwa Addax GP2 team who suddenly thinks, largely due to the proposed cap, that he can run a Formula 1 team. Manor are best known for competing in Formula Renault and Formula 3 and currently run a team in the F3 Euroseries. We all know of Nick Wirth's history with Simtek and Max Mosley and have all seen the various reports of Manor GP being in cohorts with the FIA so in Manors case at least it would seem that Max Mosley has chosen them because they will be a bunch of yes men and won't cause any trouble like the recent fight with FOTA, they'll just do what they're told. Lola have competed in F1 before and have a proven track record of producing competitive chassis for major single seater championships including F1, A1GP, Formula 3000, Champ Car. Aston Martin are one of the most famous and prestigious sports car manufacturers in the world and have a motorsport history to rival that of Ferrari. Aston Martin would have had the backing of Prodrive which had been granted entry in to F1 previously (for the 2008 season).

"otherwise 'the whole grid would be at the mercy of the car industry'" - Instead they should all be at the mercy of Cosworth? And this makes sense to the FIA spokesman?? Why, oh WHY did FOTA not go ahead with their breakaway series?!?!

The FIA should be the next theme for a Monty Python type movie, there is enough material to create a full blown TV series let alone a movie, from the backbiting and personal fornicating revelations to the absurdities that are publicly uttered....What a joke F1 has become, if I were a sponsor, I'd be looking at disassociating my BRAND from this CIRCUS!

Ow! Are you saying your were dictated to? But the FIA is not a dictatorship - Max says so. I can't help wondering if there are sticky fingers somewhere.

What's next, all cars are to have the same design, like for CART, and F2? I agree with Sierra, stock car handle like a brick, and made for oval track. Put me to sleep every time it's on TV. Let teams pick their own engines, would be a much better deal. Go AWAY Mosley

Dont forget FOTA and FIA where about to split of course the FIA did not want to be at the mercy of the manufactures who can blame them. Even now Williams and Force India must be worrying what will happen to their ENGINES in the future. Its easy to talk protectionism when your not protecting the future of a sport. Let me guess you all have inside information telling you what the manufacture aim to do to help the new teams as promised. Oh and of course when the manufactures will forgive Williams and Force India. Get real and start looking at the bigger picture.

And this surprises who??? Really come on who? Max's feined outrage at being labelled acurately.... just one more example.

Don't worry - apparently Bernie's doing a deal to make Heinkel the preferred engine supplier for F!

It is not difficult to see what has happened. The FIA want to reduce costs and Cosworth to supply engines for teams that cannot afford powerplants from the big names. Cosworth need a number of contracts to make this worthwhile hence this situation eveolved. I happen to agree that single engine and single chassis series don't work but for the FIA breaking the hold of the major manufacturers is vital. It was so much easier when there was cigarette sponsorship, whe sonsors just wanted a good international show, and smaller easier to manage teams. Now I just doubt that the FIA can really cope.

Why is anyone surprised? This, after all, is the FIA we're talking about.

So the FIA are going to actively discriminate against manufacturer teams? It's that kind of fair and balanced approach that leads me to really respect the FIA (sarcasm).

Until the FOTA decision not to form a breakaway series and with the threat of such a series strong, it would make sense for the 10 or so teams that would form the grid for the FIA series to not be tied to engines supplied by FOTA members. The new FIA teams were going to be called names like Lotus and Brabham so why not have them use "name brand" engines like Cosworth.

The Cosworth will be as good as the rest. They ran 20,000 revs before the others could and everyone is now restricted to 18,000. The FIA have allowed engine development to level the playing field in the recent past. There is no comparison to the Turbo versus normally aspirated Cossie of the 80's.

Such a decision to mandate Cosworth engines for the three new teams wreaks of intent to make F1 a spec. car series. Trust me, that motor sport model doesn't work and never has. It has never increased interest in a particular racing series. Case and point the C.A.R.T series turned Champ Car World Series and A1 GP which remains relatively 'invisible'. Champ Car - running Cosworth engines - eventually dissolved as sponsorship dwindled with racing talent...this after its owners attempted to model it after F1. What needs to be understood is that sports like F1 and professional open wheel racing in general are a pre-manufacturing motor sports platforms intended to allow for innovation of technologies and engineering. These innovations are to be later transitioned to a manufacturer's road car. Post-manufacturing sports, e.g. stock car racing, are bound to be technologically retarded because of their platform. The racing may be more entertaining, but the cars handle sloppily and often crash. Emphasis here is on marketing rather than innovation. Combining the two styles of racing won't work as you can not reconcile the different teams' purposes during a race. The FIA needs to choose one direction for F1; a clearly defined direction that all the teams acknowledge and support. Anti-manufacturer regulations - similar to the Cosworth requirement - could very well spell the downfall of F1. You need only look across the pond to the U.S. to see what happens when it all goes wrong for professional open wheel racing. U.S. open wheel racing still has not healed as the sole remaining series - Indy Car - uses one engine manufacturer and one chassis manufacturer. Just because it has the sacred Indy 500 does not make it watchable the rest of the season.

...and why does this smack of a little protectionism... you can have any engive you want but it must be cosworth... I would love to see Cosworth back but only when they compete on even ground... remember the post Turbo era when most teams ran 3,5ltr Cosworth engines... I didn't find it nearly that interesting.

to quote a famous song, a show of strength with the boys brigade

Corruption in the FIA's ranks? Donelly has been in the midst of corruption charges before. Chances are good that no fingers will point at Max.

Cosworth may not have been directly involved as a party in any talks with the prospective teams. We may never know if this is true or not. The FIA under Max has been a disgrace to the sport. The FIA cannot continue in the same vein and still expect the FOTA to be contrite. If the teams ever really leave the FIA and FOM to wallow in their own mess, it will not mean the downfall of the top motor sport in the world. Who should be the recipient of the money for racing? Who wins or loses on the tracks? Who has millions of fans, second only to soccer? It surely is not the FIA or FOM. Finally, while the Ferrari contract with the FIA over rules approval is not a positive situation as it unfairly gives one team (Ferrari) too much power, the FIA was in trouble and needed to resolve this issue with the FOTA quickly or risk losing the sport and support from the Euro auto mfgrs. What needs to occur now, is for ALL FOTA teams to have a determination in what rules are to be used. The FIA should be the enforcer, but not have any more influence in developing the rules than any team. Cosworth is a good engine source, although they're untested in the current realm of F1. What will occur if Cosworth wishes to field a team of its own? As it now stands, there are potentially 26 cars to start every race in 2010 and beyond. Talk about traffic jams on tracks that are already not conducive to passing. Should be an interesting year to see what develops.

To tell you the truth Lola and ASTON Martin would be better in F1 than Manor and co.More bloody politics why not just give us what we want RACING.

Nice to see Cosworth back; but it shouldn't be compulsory to use their engines. I hope for the sake of their integrity (Cosworth's not the FIA)they had no part in this. ALso explains why 1 ot the most credible entries; PRODRIVE; didn't get considered due to their ties with Mercedes (via Aston Martin link up)

Shoulda , woulda. coulda. There is no breakaway series, so give up talking about it.

No other sport would put up with the degree of unfairness in F1: first, one of the teams has a veto on rule changes: now, we find that the ruling body is acting directly in favour of 'private entrants' and against the vehicle manufacturers - the very people who out the most money and technology into the sport. Time for a big clean-up at the top: as the saying goes, the fish always rots from the head.

I vaguely see the point about having an independant engine supplier, and I bet this "clause" was down to Brawn siding with FOTA rather than the FIA... However surely this should be left to market forces?? If Aston Martin had a contract for Mercedes engines, surely that gives them a better chance of being competitive, and that would be one less team reliant on the need for an unlimited Cosworth - therefore the playing field would be level for all! Hell, even if manufacturers DO leave, it doesn't necessarily mean they'll stop engine development - they never have in the past, particularly if they have customers!

personally i dont see anthing wrong with ensuring that at least part of the grid is not tied to a mufacturer .. as usual its the way that the FIA has gone about it that leads to speculation and bad publicity (and by the FIA i do of course, mean Max) However he is right in one aspect, when the manufacturers decide to leave en masse F1 wil be shafted.

They are going to have to ask the three new teams who still wants in, with them already being accepted they will have put even more money into their prospective cars. Tad unfair to boot them out, but there are rumblings from some teams that without the cap they may not be viable. So they should be allowed to pull out and see who if any of the other entrants still want in.

Let's see...The FIA tries to manipulate the series in a way that limits true competition while rewarding itself and it's hand-picked favorites...Hmmm...Sounds familiar. Sounds like business as usual!

Thats not fair to be honest. Theirs enough r&r's out their. This just doesnt make things fair. As for the new teams their should of been a fairer way to decide the teams.

Shifty Max feathering his nest from a Cosworth "gratuity"? More transparency from the FIA is a priority.

This is just blatantly WRONG, teams should have been chosen on merit not for political reasons. It makes a mockery of the championship and the FIA has lost all respect under Max Moseley. FOTA should have broken away when they had the chance if they dont I may stop watching the sport ive loved for 30 years as ive had enough of the way its run, Max couldn't care less about the sport or the fans all he cares about is keeping power.

F1 is becoming a bigger joke as each day passes by. This is just unbelievable.

If true this completely blows, should have stuck with the breakaway.