FIA still considering engine rules deal

The teams had until 4pm on Sunday to find a solution if they wanted to head off the threat of a full engine freeze in Formula One from 2008.

A fraught weekend of talks had failed to produce any sign of a satisfactory settlement until just minutes before the race when the Grand Prix Manufacturers' Association (GPMA) came forward with a solution that would help produce the 'Engine Fund' that the FIA is so keen for.

Although that 11th hour offer looked set to be rejected outright by the FIA, and the complete silence by the governing body on Monday about the matter indeed appeared to suggest that the full freeze was on because Ferrari wanted a definitive answer by then, high level sources have revealed that the matter is in fact far from closed.

Autosport.com has obtained a letter sent by FIA president Max Mosley on Monday to senior Formula One and FIA representatives that suggests progress is being made in reaching some kind of settlement over the matter that would satisfy both the teams and the governing body.

However, it is patently clear that certain conditions that have been attached to the 'Engine Fund' offer, which was made in a letter from GPMA chief Burkhard Goeschel, will not be accepted by Mosley.

Mosley remarks at one point that a condition of changing F1's decision-making process to an 80 percent majority of the teams to agree technical and sporting regulations for the next five years would be "a recipe for paralysis and decline."

Mosley has clearly been left far from impressed with the way that the GPMA dealt with the situation at last weekend's French Grand Prix - when they issued a statement criticising the governing body on Sunday morning.

"We believe there is an element in GPMA which is intent on undermining any attempt at calm and rational discussion and that, regrettably, this element has prevailed," said Mosley.

"This impression is reinforced by the GPMA press release which accompanied the letter, offering 10 million Euro a year for four years as 'the absolute maximum the GPMA manufacturers can offer', in contrast to the 15 million Euro a year for five years suggested in the (Goeschel) letter itself.

"The GPMA press release also announced that six manufacturers and their teams 'unanimously agree on Future Engine Format', which was, of course completely untrue, and that this agreement was 'endorsed by ten of the twelve teams', which was also untrue.

"You may agree with me that it is difficult to take seriously an organisation which issues a press release which not only flatly contradicts its own official letter, but also seeks to mislead the Formula One media with claims which the most elementary enquiry would have revealed to be untrue."

However, despite being critical of the GPMA position, Mosley reveals that one possible compromise is for an engine freeze to come in next year - but with engines that are homologated later this year.

"Bernie (Ecclestone) had a meeting on Saturday 15 July with representatives of BMW, DaimlerChrysler, Honda and Toyota," wrote Mosley.

"He secured their agreement to stabilise (homologate) the engines for 2007 provided the homologation date was moved from 1 June 2006 to 28 October 2006. I then sought the agreement of Ferrari and Renault to this, only to learn from Bernie that in the meantime the four had changed their minds and retracted their agreement."

Leading Formula One figures - including the independent teams - had suggested at the weekend that the move towards an October homologation date would be satisfactory.

Midland's Colin Kolles said: "We would be happy with that. It would allow us to run a competitive V8 engine."

Honda Racing boss Nick Fry said that his team were against any imposition of a freeze using engines that were lodged earlier this year.

"If the freeze were to be in place for next year, we think it would put some competitors, not only us, in a disadvantageous position," he said. "The engine that is usually talked about is the engine from the spring this year and there was a wide disparity of engine performance at that time."