NO BREAKAWAY AS ALL 12 TEAMS SIGN UP

August 1, 2009
By Neil Maidment

The future of Formula 1 was secured on Saturday after the governing International Automobile Federation and the 12 teams signed a new Concorde Agreement to cover the sport until 2012.

The agreement ended threats of a breakaway series after weeks of negotiations between the IAF and the Formula One Teams' Association.

The document, which outlines how F1 will be run and its revenues distributed, was signed late on Friday.

"Following approval by the World Motor Sport Council, IAF president Max Mosley signed the 2009 Concorde Agreement, heralding a renewed period of stability for the F1 championship," a statement read.

"In addition, as agreed in Paris on June 24, 2009, the teams have entered into a resource restriction agreement intended to return expenditure to the levels that prevailed in the early 1990's."

The statement added that the document had a "slightly revised set of stable sporting and technical regulations (to apply from 2010)".

BMW, which on Wednesday announced it would withdraw from F1 at the end of the season, is the only team not to have signed. Next season's new teams - US F1, Campos Meta and Manor GP - are among the 12 signatories.

The sport's future was originally at risk following an objection by FOTA to a budget cap which it felt could lead to a two-tier series with the teams agreeing to the cap being allowed greater technical freedom.

This dispute was averted during a meeting in Paris, only for the FOTA teams to walk out of another meeting on July 8 at which they had been told they had no voting rights for future proposals as they had not fully entered for 2010. - Reuters