Planet-F1

More controversy as rejected teams cry foul

Monday 6th July 2009

There is yet more controversy in F1 as teams who were rejected for next year's Championship have claimed that unless they signed up with Cosworth their applications were not considered.

With the FIA announcing that the F1 grid would be extended to 26 cars for the 2010 Championship, more than ten outfits applied for the three open slots.

In the end, though, it was Manor GP, USF1 and Campos who were assigned the places, leaving the others, including big names such as Aston Martin and Lola, out in the cold.

Now some of the rejected team bosses are crying foul, claiming that the FIA stipulated that it was "mandatory" that they bought their engines from Cosworth.

"We were told that if we wanted to take up the 2010 grid slot we would have to sign a three-year engine contract with Cosworth," one team boss told The Daily Telegraph.

Another said in a letter to the newspaper that he "had a real possibility of obtaining a Renault, Mercedes or Ferrari engine. It was made very clear to me that it was considered a 'mandatory' condition from the powers-that-be that Cosworth was the engine supplier."

A third boss added that the three new teams had been "hand-picked for political, rather than sport criteria."

Cosworth have denied being involved in the alleged FIA conditions, saying that they "in no way, shape or form requested that the FIA make demands on its behalf of potential entries to the Formula One World Championship."

However, an FIA spokesman has given some weight to the allegations after admitting that it was a "priority" to have an independent supply of engines otherwise "the whole grid would be at the mercy of the car industry and no new team would be able to enter without their permission."