Rule Changes, Controversy, Civil War, F1 Marks Its Return To The Sport Stage

(Photo by Peter Fox/Getty Images)

On the other side of the imaginary wall stands one individual, Max Mosley. Max, or Max Rufus Mosley, born 13 April 1940, is president of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), a non-profit association that represents the interests of motoring organizations and car users worldwide. The FIA is also the governing body for Formula One and other international motorsports.   

Bernie Ecclestone is directly involved due to his status as the primary authority of Formula One. 

Bernard Charles "Bernie" Ecclestone, born 28 October 1930, is a billionaire sports entrepreneur, as president and CEO of Formula One Management and Formula One Administration and through his part-ownership of Alpha Prema, the parent company of the Formula One Group of companies.

As of 2008 FOTA has had an impact on passing the rules on how the sport should look like in the seasons to come. While some of the decisions made have benefitted one team or another and did not help the others, the FOTA members implemented these decisions in hopes of strengthening the image, character, and essence of the sport. 

While the teams may have disagreed on issues such as “trick-diffusers” or “twin diffusers”, the FOTA has worked quite well together. The co-operation of the FOTA members not only served to make the sport beneficial to all members of the grid, but it also created a strong unity between the members. 

In the past when issues such as a breakaway series came up there were obvious visible divisions between the teams, and so this project was easily dispatched by Bernie and Max. 

With the 2009 season in full swing the team principals began working on the proposed rules for 2010.  Costs saving measures were proposed, changes to the sport, such as the medal system, were quietly written in, and the idea of a twin level championship as well as a budget cap was floated. 

Floated may be a proper word for the first part, the twin championship system was completely opposed and so this proposal seems to have been withdrawn. The budget cap on one hand has threatened the very existence of the sport. 

A budget cap is a method that companies or sporting leagues attempt to level out the playing field.  In baseball it works, as it does in hockey, football (grid-iron); in F1 this idea is quite absurd. 

F1 is money driven sport; combined spending costs on ticket, hotels, swag, team budgets, entry fees, racetrack fees, could put the budget of a small African country to shame. The sport itself spends a lot of money because there are entertainment factors, matters of advertising, running the entire circus, paying for television rights, and a million other costs. 

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