Teams seek answer to save independents

Team principals met with Ecclestone in the paddock at Valencia on Saturday to continue discussions aimed at concluding a new Concorde Agreement.

Among the discussions that took place during the hour-long meeting was how best to ensure the survival of all teams in F1, although there was no desire to commit to a way forward until the teams themselves were in agreement.

With the new Formula One Teams' Association (FOTA) already planning to lay out a framework for helping ensure F1 is sustainable, it was agreed that it would be better to wait for a unified team plan to be put to Ecclestone at a later date rather than implement plans now.

Toyota team president John Howett told autosport.com that nothing was likely to be agreed until FOTA had come to its own conclusions.

"To be honest, the conclusion was that nobody was prepared to discuss much because we are finalising the FOTA area," he explained.

"Part of the discussion was how to ensure we retain some of the smaller teams, but nobody at this stage wanted to get involved in the discussion because FOTA has a role in that activity."

He added: "We are finalising the Concorde Agreement, and we want to make some amendments to secure the future of all teams, so we said to Bernie look, let's wait.

"The key point really is one of the issues discussed during FOTA discussions was how do we achieve the fine balance of securing the future of small teams but also satisfying the needs of manufacturers and maintaining somehow the DNA of F1."

It is hoped that plans for FOTA will move on this weekend when articles of association and direction are due to be presented to all teams for their agreement.

It is understood the documentation is being put in place by Ferrari, who will present the structure format to the teams when it is ready.

Howett said: "Ferrari undertook the direction of the secretariat in the interim period and they have done an outstanding job from our perspective."