F1 will miss FOTA more than it knows
The end seems nigh for F1 teams' body FOTA. DIETER RENCKEN looks back at what it achieved, and argues that its likely demise will hurt the sport
That the Formula One Teams' Association stands on the brink of extinction is perhaps not surprising given the forces ranged against it. That the body managed to survive for over five years in the Piranha Club - as McLaren's Ron Dennis once so aptly described the Formula 1 paddock - bears testimony to the crucial need for such a foil against the oft-greedy excesses of the sport's commercial-rights holder CVC Capital Partners and to bring balance to the governance of this most complex of sports.
Formed as a collective bargaining union to counter the combined might of an FIA seemingly more sympathetic to the requirements of F1 tsar Bernie Ecclestone and the Formula One Group he headed, FOTA scored numerous early victories, including demands that the Concorde Agreement vest greater power in teams while simultaneously providing greater financial stability for the sport.
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