The Weekly Grapevine

A Changed Maranello

A fresh wind would appear to be breezing through Formula One, with Maranello, for a change, on leeward side.

The first concrete signs of a thaw in relations between Ferrari and the 'Rest of the World' came at Silverstone, where all ten team bosses sat down to discuss the letter FIA President Max Mosley had addressed to them on July 3.

There is, of course, nothing unusual in a gathering of team principals - it happened at Barcelona and Montreal, and will likely happen again at least three more times before this season is out - but what was significant about the get-together in 'Bernie's Bus' at Silverstone was that there were reportedly no disagreements.

Stefano Domenicali © XPB

"Posturing, certain entrenchments of position, yes, but fundamental disagreements of the type we were used, no," was the prevailing mood according to a team boss who attended the meeting called by Bernie Ecclestone to discuss Mosley's vision of the future technical direction the sport should take.

As reported last week, during the Silverstone meeting it was agreed that follow-up discussions would be held during the German Grand Prix weekend, and so it came to pass that all ten team principals met in Williams' hospitality facility on Saturday afternoon. The venue was in itself significant: unlike some of the facilities which have hosted team principal meetings in the past, the motorhome is wheelchair friendly, enabling Frank Williams's attendance.

Even more significant, though, was the decision, taken unanimously by all accounts, that the team bosses would meet on July 29 to further their discussions - at Maranello, home to Ferrari.

In past team principal's meetings, if not held at a circuit - when all and sundry are consumed by weekend-specific matters - would see folk from all over Europe converge on travel-friendly venues such as the Hilton Hotel at London's Heathrow Airport. Not even McLaren's palatial facility, situated a mere 15 miles (25 kms) from Europe's busiest airport, has been bestowed the honour.

Of course, between the British and German grands prix Ferrari and McLaren announced that they had buried the hatchet (and not in each others' backs, as many had predicted) so an element of camaraderie was to be expected. But still, even the biggest optimist in F1 could hardly have foreseen that Ron Dennis and his team would become persona grata in Tifosiland quite so rapidly.

Set aside thoughts of the photo opportunity offered by Dennis (or any senior McLaren man, for that matter) strolling through the famous squared-off pinky-brown arch leading to Ferrari's inner sanctum - assuming the meeting is held within the historic site and not at Ferrari's space-age Centro Logistica, or elsewhere within the Italian village - and focus on the response from Stefano Domenicali when asked by this column at Hockenheim about the significance of the meeting venue:

The Ferrari headquarters in Maranello © XPB

Q: There will be a meeting on July 29 in Maranello, is this a sign of the new spirit at Ferrari as a team?

Domenicali: "It will be a meeting in order to discuss, within the teams, the situation of the future regulations following the letter of Max Mosley. It's a good opportunity to share and discuss what are the ideas of all the teams who are involved in the sport."

Q: Is it significant that it's at Maranello when previously it was at the Hilton Hotel at Heathrow airport?

Domenicali: "For sure, Ferrari and our president are very keen that Ferrari is willing to participate in that because Ferrari is part of Formula One and Mr di Montezemolo is really keen on that."

Now, not too long ago - but before Domenicali's appointment as director of Ferrari's gestione sportiva - the chances of hearing phrases such as 'Ferrari is part of Formula One' and 'Mr di Montezemolo is really keen on that (being part of Formula One)' uttered by a red-clad person would have been about as unlikely as Ecclestone sanctioning NASCAR as a supporting act for the Canadian Grand Prix. Yet, Stefano said precisely those words, and on the record, too.

So, no longer do Ferrari (and, by extension, di Montezemolo) see themselves as being Formula One, with all others being mere bit players on a stage the Scuderia all too often deluded itself as actually owning, but as genuine role player. One prepared to not only meet and openly discuss the future direction of the sport, but, crucially, to host such a meeting.

However, of even greater significance than the fact that Ferrari had offered to host the meet is the teams' acceptance of the invitation without qualm. After all, if a get-together of ten exceptionally busy men was to be held at a team base, it could have been hosted by any of the nine other outfits.

70% of these locations offer less convoluted travel logistics than flying to Giacomo Marconi Airport, situated some distance from Bologna and Modena, then embarking on an hour's journey along the SS9 or indulging in helicopter travel, but no, Maranello it is.

Therefore, the fact that the team bosses acquiesced to the meeting in Maranello indicates two things. They have wholeheartedly accepted the latter-day Ferrari into 'their' Formula One circle, and equally significantly, that Domenicali would appear to enjoy their unbridled acceptance, less than six months after Jean Todt relinquished day-to-day running of the company.

Bernie Ecclestone © XPB

However, so much for the politics, what about the practicalities? Here too, a fresh wind can be felt breezing through the sport. Where in the past teams believed hell would freeze over before agreement was reached between ten highly-ambitious, ego-driven, competitive individuals, the feeling iat Hockenheim was that a workable solution to Mosley's demands could be presented to the FIA by D-Day.

"The teams have shown a fairly good degree of capability of working together when they need to, on an informal basis," said Honda CEO Nick Fry on Sunday. "I guess a good example of that would be the testing regulations where we managed to get our act together (without FIA involvement) quite successfully. The meeting was more about how to go about framing the regulations than about the regulations themselves."

"Obviously in terms of framing any new regulations for the future, the teams have the key input and it's up to the teams to work together in a similar way. At the moment that is being done under no banner whatsoever, it's just the teams working together to try to define what they want for the future, and to make recommendations to the FIA."

Then, in an apparent swipe at the Formula One Manufacturers' Advisory Committee, "a sort of regulations working group" as one team principal refers to the commission established by the FIA to coordinate such discussions, Fry stressed that this group of teams who met at Hockenheim "does not have a name and will not have a name as far as I am concerned."

Strangely, despite reports that Professor Goeschel, who cosied up to the FIA after moving from BMW to auto component and consultancy Magna Steyr, would be at Hockenheim over the race weekend - entirely logical given both his nationality and important function in light of the fact that Mosley gave the teams until October to agree, through Goeschel, the future regulatory direction of the sport - he, the chairman of FOMAC, was conspicuous by his remarkable absence.

So, no sign of FOMAC in Germany while Ferrari have seemingly been accepted into the mainstream, as has, crucially, the team's new sporting director. McLaren willing to see and be seen in Maranello, and indications that the teams have the will and way to agree new rules on their own - even if their regulatory group still has, according to Fry, no name.

One team boss, though, suggested a name to this column late on Sunday: "Let's call it the Formula One Constructors Association," he said. "FOCA ... mmm ... FOCA, I quite like the ring of that," he added with a sly grin.

The Formula One Constructors Association, the teams' umbrella organisation which stuck together through thick and thin until the FIA changed the sport's commercial structure, died precisely ten years ago when Ecclestone transformed it into the Formula One Group. Maybe it is being resurrected in name and spirit - and what could be more refreshing than that?