Ferrari warns over future of FOTA if RRA issues are not sorted

Ferrari has warned that the future of the Formula One Teams' Association (FOTA) will be cast into doubt if agreement cannot be reached on the Resource Restriction Agreement at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

As AUTOSPORT reported earlier, teams have agreed to roll forwards discussions on the RRA until the penultimate race of the season, amid growing concerns that some outfits are being more aggressive than others in their interpretations of the deal.

But rather than being viewed as an opportunity to make progress, Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali thinks it is critical that a unified approach to the RRA is achieved at Abu Dhabi.

And he fears that, if that does not happen, then it will show teams cannot trust each other - which implies that FOTA as a concept could be finished.

When asked by AUTOSPORT about whether the concerns he had voiced in Japan about the RRA had been eased by Sunday morning's meeting in Korea, Domenicali said: "What we have said about RRA is that I think we are in a situation where we take a certain direction, or we recognise that there is an element of mistrust between teams that is not good.

"So what we have discussed is to go to Abu Dhabi to make sure that a solution, a final solution, has to be taken.

"On top of that, what we said is really if this [mistrust] will come out of FOTA activity then what is FOTA all about? We know the reason why FOTA started, and now we need to understand if FOTA is still needed. What are the objectives of the future of FOTA, if there is a future for FOTA?

"We need to do that in a very constructive way, a very open way. That is the discussion that I believe in the next weeks is important to take over. On the RRA with Abu Dhabi either there is a solution or we will see."

Domenicali's comments echo the stance put forward by Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner earlier on Sunday, who suggested that FOTA was at a key moment in its existence.

"I think that FOTA has reached the crossroads where it needs to deal with some of the key issues moving forward or we'll stop. It's as simple as that," he was quoted as saying by Reuters.

"The principal issues are obviously the Concorde Agreement, the direction that goes in, and fundamentally the RRA (Resource Restriction Agreement). If we can't find agreement within FOTA on that, then what is the purpose of FOTA?"