FIA to publish 2008 entrants next month

While FIA president Max Mosley has talked openly about his plans for the 'window of opportunity' for 2008 entries between March 24 and March 31, it was not thought likely that details of the entry list would be put into the public domain until the eve of the championship.

However, revisions to the Sporting Regulations agreed by the FIA World Motor Sport Council on Wednesday have included the fact that the list of teams eligible to race in 2008 will be published on April 28.

The 2008 Formula One Sporting Regulations said: "All applications will be studied by the FIA and accepted or rejected in its absolute discretion. The FIA will publish the list of cars and drivers accepted together with their race numbers on 28 April 2006, having first notified unsuccessful applicants as set out in Article 41. Out-of-time applications will be considered separately."

This means that those teams involved in the Grand Prix Manufacturers' Association will have to make a swift decision about whether they sign up to the championship, or whether they press ahead with their breakaway plans.

Mosley's justification for the short entry window is that the FIA needs to finalise the 2008 regulations by the end of June this year, and wants to do it in consultation with the teams who will actually be racing.

Should the manufacturers not sign up by the entry deadline then they will be frozen out of these rules talks.

Mosley did make it clear in a letter to the GPMA on Wednesday that the only way they could make changes to the sporting regulations was to sign up to the 2008 championship.

"Although the 2008 Sporting Regulations are now fixed, any element could be changed on proposal of a simple majority of the entered teams sitting in the Sporting Working Group (Appendix 5) and that the Formula One Commission of World Motor Sport Council would only reject such proposal in the overall interests of the Formula One World Championship or of motor sport in general."

The fact that the GPMA launched a last-minute bid to make changes to the Sporting Regulations, which came at 10:11pm on the night before the World Council meeting, indicates that the manufacturers are not happy with the rules as they stand at the moment.

However, their only way of making alterations will be to sign-up to the F1 championship - and in doing so all-but end the threat of the breakaway championship.

The FIA has created a Sporting Working Group, made up a representative from each team, to discuss changes to F1's sporting regulations.

Like the Technical Working Group, which is involved in changes to the technical regulations, changes agreed only need a simple majority vote before they are put to the Formula One commission.

The commission, which has been reduced to 13 members, will then only be allowed to reject or approve the proposed changes before they go to the FIA World Motor Sport Council for final approval.   

The manufacturers, in their letter to Mosley on Tuesday night, said they were not happy with the fact that the commission could veto the changes agreed by the teams.