Formula One news

Fry: The ball is in Mosley's court

Nick Fry has looked back upon FOTA's decision of Thursday night as a difficult one. Cheif executive officer of the championship-leading Brawn GP team, Fry admitted that the group's decision to pull out of F1 and form a breakaway series at the end of the season had been one of great tension, before explaining that a strained relationship between the sport's governing body and commercial rights holder acted as a catalyst to the eventual outcome.

With eight of the current teams set, in theory, to bow out at the end of the season, Fry reflected upon Thursday evening's meeting at Renault's Enstone headquarters. "We had good discussions last night but it was a very difficult decision," he said at Silverstone on Friday morning. "The negotiations with Bernie Ecclestone (head of Formula One Management, commercial rights holder for F1) and Max Mosley (FIA president) had some length and were conducted in good faith but we did not get to where we wanted, so we'll do something different."

Fry celebrates victory with Jenson Button at Monaco

Fry went on to explain the main reasoning for electing to follow the path of a breakaway as opposed to further attempts to modify F1 regulations: "It's a combination of things - some of the decision-making (by the FIA) has been done without the consensus of competitors; the drive to reduce costs is supported by the teams but the processes are not supported by a number of teams.

"The way by which we reduce the costs needs to be agreed. Principally, it's a process issue. Our company (Brawn) had to restructure at the start of this year following the withdrawal of Honda. Some companies are much larger and have agreements with their staff. For those based in Germany and Italy, there are trade unions involved."

However, he did express his hope to continue discussions with a view to rectifying the mass F1 departure: "I hope the discussions will continue. The ball is in Max Mosley's court - I do hope, from our point of view, that discussions can continue."

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