FIA, GPMA divided on standard ECU

Although a meeting between FIA president Max Mosley, F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone and representatives of the Grand Prix Manufacturers' Association in Bahrain failed to deliver a final deal to secure F1's future, the situation appears to be edging towards a solution.

An optimistic FIA president Max Mosley said after the meeting: "I would be disappointed if we didn't get the manufacturers sorted in the next few weeks, or even by the end of the month."

There appears to be general agreement about the commercial terms on offer to the teams and there is growing unity over the need to cut costs with future F1 technical regulations.

The manufacturers are even believed to support Mosley's plans to open up a short window of opportunity for entries to the 2008 championship to allow talks to begin about framing the future those regulations.

Mosley said about the entry window: "The world council have got to agree but assuming they do we will start on March 24 and finish on March 31.

"They all understand why now. If we are going to make any adjustments to the regulations we need the three months to do it and we can only do it with people who are in the championship.

"If people in the championship want to discuss them we can do that once they've entered. Or they can not enter, wait and see what the regulations are, and then decide."

However, high level sources close to the negotiations have revealed that there remain major differences of opinion between the manufacturers and the FIA over plans for a standard ECU.

It is understood that Mosley held talks with individual manufacturer representatives over the course of the Bahrain Grand Prix weekend and the one consistent area of concern for each of the carmakers was the standard ECU.

The carmakers are believed to be adamant that they do not want standard ECUs in F1, because they believe it will detract from the technological challenge of the sport, while Mosley believes that standard ECUs are best for F1.

It is understood that Mosley has indicated to the manufacturers that he will not compromise on this issue, however, which looks set to cause some fraught talks in hammering out a deal in the next few weeks.

BMW motorsport director Mario Theissen told autosport.com that he hoped discussions over the technical regulations would be conducted in a sensible manner.

"I don't really see a point in a tough fight," he said. "I think one should sit down and think about what is reasonable, what are the interests of the teams, the spectators and certainly the commercial rights holders, and then go for it.

"In my view, let me first say we support cost cutting but we have to look for a balance. For F1 the balance is that it is the pinnacle of motorsport, and it was the FIA who released last year than the fans wants to see technology, but on the other hand we have to get costs under control."