Brawn happy to head FOTA's tech side

F1 outfits have been asked by FIA president Max Mosley to come up with a series of regulations for 2011 that will help reduce costs and improve the sport's environmental credentials.

If they do not do so by October this year, then the FIA will impose its own radical regulations - which could include the use of common parts and engine rules that limit the amount of fuel teams can use.

As a result of the FIA's stance, F1's entrants have put together the Formula One Teams' Association (FOTA) to help coordinate their efforts and allow them to focus discussions with the FIA and F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone.

Part of FOTA's remit will also be to frame new regulations, and Brawn has made it clear that if rivals teams are happy for him to do so, he will be willing to take charge of coordinating the technical aspects between all the outfits.

"It still has to be fully decided, but I am happy to do that if the teams would like me to," Brawn told autosport.com. "But that is another stage down the line.

"We need the first stage done first, which is about how we can all work together without making it too heavy. We need to have something that is clear, but we don't want a 100-page document. It would be a shame if it resorted to that."

F1 teams are encouraged by the unity shown in creating FOTA, which comes at a time of unease caused by the Max Mosley sex scandal and questions about F1 owners CVC Capital Partners' commitment to the long-term future.

But although agreement in creating FOTA was fairly easy to reach, getting the necessary approval for technical regulations will be much harder - which is why someone with Brawn's skills will be useful in coordinating the situation.

Under terms agreed by FOTA, which is headed by Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo, new rules will be approved if seven out of the 10 teams involved support them.

BMW motorsport director Mario Theissen said it was too early to judge if the team's ideas for new rules were similar to what the FIA wanted.

"We appreciate this approach to ask the teams, or in this case to the engine manufacturers to come up with a proposal of next generation engines," he explained. "We have only started to discuss it, but we want to do it.

"What the outcome is in terms of technology, timing and costs, it is too early to say. We can just say that we share the desire to bring costs down. We want to have an engine that carries future road car technology. So the aims are quite similar - but if the approach is the same it is too early to say."

Theissen did dismiss, however, an idea put forward by Mosley that in exchange for freeing up engine technology, that manufacturers must supply engines to customer teams free of charge.

"We are definitely not in the sport to finance several other teams," he said. "We appreciate to have such a broad field. We think we need independent teams in the sport, but no one can expect one team to finance its competitors.

"We have to develop different ideas, like how to keep F1 commercially viable for independent teams. It will be necessary to have a less expensive power train for independent teams, which will come with the next generation engines, but it should not be necessary for one competitor to sponsor another in order to have a race."