New Concorde Agreement finally signed

[John S]

So Toy and Renault have signed up to race in 2010. Max has also had to put his cross on the concorde. BMW is given a bit of time in case they have a plan B.

F1 will stay together now for a few years, lets get on with the racing.

By Matt Beer Autosport.com

The FIA has announced that a new Concorde Agreement has been signed by president Max Mosley, heralding a final resolution to the political rows that rocked Formula 1 in the first half of 2009.

A three-way deal between the FIA, the sport's commercial rights holder Bernie Ecclestone and the F1 teams, the Concorde Agreement is the document that sets out how F1 is run and its revenues distributed.

The lack of a new Concorde deal had been a key sticking point during the disagreements between the FIA and the Formula One Teams' Association (FOTA) earlier this season.

"Following approval by the World Motor Sport Council, late last night FIA President Max Mosley signed the 2009 Concorde Agreement, heralding a renewed period of stability for the FIA Formula 1 world championship," said an FIA statement.

"The WMSC has also approved a slightly revised set of stable sporting and technical regulations (to apply from the 2010 championship onwards), which have been agreed by the FIA and the teams and which will be published shortly on the FIA's website.

"The new Concorde Agreement, which runs until 31 December 2012, provides for a continuation of the procedures in the 1998 Concorde Agreement, with decisions taken by working groups and commissions, upon which all teams have voting rights, before going to the WMSC for ratification."

All the teams entered for the 2010 Formula 1 world championship have signed up to the agreement with exception of BMW Sauber.

AUTOSPORT understands that the team has been given a deadline of next Wednesday (5 August) to sign as the German manufacturer decides whether to open the operation up to a potential rescue package following its decision to quit F1 at the end of the season.

The FIA also confirmed that final agreement had been reached on measures for further cost cutting.

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

"With the 2009 Concorde Agreement and the resource restriction agreement in place, the FIA looks forward to a period of stability and prosperity in the FIA Formula 1 world championship."

[SennaMan]

yeah, let's go racing.     

[cosworth151]

Two whole seasons of relative stability in F1? I hope so, but I doubt it.

[david1275]

What are we all going to talk / bitch about now

[John S]

What are we all going to talk / bitch about now

Schumi it would seem.

[SennaMan]

What are we all going to talk / bitch about now

Schumi it would seem.

yeah John, I must admit to mixed feelings about MS filling in for FM.

I mean can michael race 'clean'?

[david1275]

Hey Sennaman you really have it in for one of my hero's. I will admit Michael made some questionable moves during his career, and had a 'anything to win' attitude, in some ways very similar to your hero, whom I will refrain form posting any negative comments about.

[Scott]

He might find that with the new front wings there is less room for rubbing.   

Take it easy David - I think you'll find that almost all of us are excited to have MS racing this season under the circumstances, but as you say, he has made some fairly controversial moves during his career, and that has left a bad taste with many of us, and we feel justified to make negative comments.

But the bottom line is this - there is no other driver who, when asked to put in a few blazing laps for a strategic decision, gets it done like Michael does.  It's a shame he's resorted to some bad decisions with his 'win at all costs' attitude, because even without those moves, he most likely would still have those 7 championships.

[Ian]

Schumey is my top man too Dave, if Michael shoved a bar of soap up his bum he would still be called a dirty driver.

[cosworth151]

I don't think Schumacher will need that much of a refresher. Besides, he'll have the whole week-end of the Valencia parade to get the feel of things before the next race at Spa.

As was mentioned elsewhere, I'm more concerned with his physical condition. The G-loading in an F1 car is tremendous, especially on the drivers neck.

Schumi's return makes me wonder about his departure even more. Him being this ready to return makes me think that Ferrari really did push him into retirement.

[SennaMan]

Hey Sennaman you really have it in for one of my hero's. I will admit Michael made some questionable moves during his career, and had a 'anything to win' attitude, in some ways very similar to your hero, whom I will refrain form posting any negative comments about.

quite right too david, I blame the authorities letting ayrton get away with very questionable tactics, [especially against PROST] for MS copying them into an art form and after he 't-boned' JV they had to clamp down on the German wunderkid - and they did.

but one should still be able to call a spade a spade or sleasy tactics as sleasy tactics regardless of who does them

i just am sorry michael with all his driving talent and genius still had to resort to dirty tricks as it blighted his brilliant career and how people remember him

michael is still the most 'professional' F1 driver ever - he raised the 'F1 bar' in much the same way tiger WOODS has done for golf

[Jericoke]

He might find that with the new front wings there is less room for rubbing.   

Kimi's doing very well playing bumper cars with the F60 

I've seen a few 'greats' who left sport at the top of their game come back a few years later, and it's always exciting.