Formula One news

Whitmarsh: 'Relationships' caused split

Martin Whitmarsh has commented that certain strained 'relationships' between the Formula One Teams Association (FOTA) and governing body the FIA caused the split between the two groups, which was announced by FOTA on Friday morning at Silverstone. The McLaren team principal, dispite saying that FOTA agrees with the FIA's proposals, explained how secondary problems caused greater influences in the row.

With the eight FOTA teams (all current entrants bar Williams and Force India) now signalling to leave Formula One at the end of this season, Whitmarsh spoke of the crisis on Friday. "There is no doubt that costs were running away in Formula One; FOTA's position isn't that we don't want to save money - plainly we do," he said. "We have put forward proposals and mechanisms by which all of the teams believed were possible and had already made that progress, but ultimately we are very close in many things and that is perhaps the sad thing."

He went on to express that the split is more disappointing when considering that the two parties had the very similar, if not practically the same, ultimate goals. "If you look at FOTA's position and you look at the position of the FIA, there are a lot of areas where there are very many common views," Whitmarsh continued. "Yet, ultimately perhaps, because of relationships or whatever, we were unable to come together."

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