Drivers meet with F1 teams over regulations

Formula One drivers held talks with the Formula One Teams Association on Sunday, as the deadline for next year's championship entries loomed amid rising tension and uncertainty over the regulations for 2010.

Only Williams' Nico Rosberg and Kazuki Nakajima and Force India's Giancarlo Fisichella and Adrian Sutil were absent from the meeting before the start of the Turkish Grand Prix as FOTA has suspended the two teams for lodging unconditional entries for next season's championship.

The other eight F1 teams lodged only conditional entries, contingent upon authorities giving ground on a voluntary euro45 million ($NZ102.41 million) budget cap to be introduced from next season.

FIA president Max Mosley has so far rebuffed the teams' suggestions, which include signing a new governing accord that would keep teams in the sport through 2012.

Ferrari driver Felipe Massa called the entire standoff "ridiculous."

"It's a nightmare what's happening with this fight. We wanted to know as drivers and we wanted to give our opinion," the Brazilian said on Sunday. "If we do what Mr. Mosley wants we won't be on the top of motorsport."

Rumors began swirling around the paddock that the teams could pull off the track after the formation lap to send out a message. Jenson Button of Brawn GP won the 58-lap race.

"I think that was a joke that came out," Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali said. "It's never been discussed at all."

Two-time world champion Fernando Alonso firmly backed his team Renault's unwillingness to commit to the new rules, a position widely shared among F1's drivers.

"I prefer any other category to the new F1," the Spaniard said. "A similar model to (feeder series) GP2 or Formula Three is not interesting for any pilot, any sponsor, circuit or TV. In this case, it would be a totally senseless category."

The FIA said that teams who sign up for the new cap will receive greater technical freedom than those who don't, which FOTA believes will create a two-tier category.

The eight teams yet to commit for 2010, including Ferrari, have threatened to pull out of the sport. There are at least 10 new teams queuing up to take their place.

BMW Sauber motor sports director Mario Theissen wasn't sure that a solution would come by Friday, when the FIA lists the 13 teams that will compete in the 2010 championship.

"It is worrying me that we haven't resolved the situation so far," Theissen said. "It is an important week but I also think it will take more than one week to resolve everything."

FOTA has said a breakaway series was on the table in a "worst case scenario."

"If Formula One is not possible because it's not Formula One any more, than we'll go to another championship," Massa said.

AP