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."

Your Comments

ZiggyP

"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. "