8 teams announce breakaway F1 series

SILVERSTONE, England – Eight Formula One teams began preparations for a rival series after failing to resolve their dispute with motor sport’s governing body over financial constraints on Friday.

Ferrari, which has participated since the inaugural championship in 1950, and current leader Brawn GP headed the list of Formula One Teams Association members to announce the split ahead of Sunday’s British Grand Prix.

FOTA, which also includes McLaren, Renault, Toyota, BMW Sauber, Red Bull Racing and Toro Rosso, would not compromise on the quality of the series by signing up unconditionally for the 2010 F1 season under the FIA’s radical plans for cost-cutting. The FIA’s deadline for entry was later Friday.

FOTA’s statement criticized the FIA’s “uncompromising” stance and attempts, along with the commercial rights holder Formula One Management, to divide its member teams.

As it stands, Williams and Force India will be the only current teams on the F1 starting grid next season while three new outfits - Campos Racing, Team US F1 and Manor F1 Team - are also due to enter.

FIA president Max Mosley was insistent on introducing a voluntary $60 million budget cap for teams to curtail a “financial arms race” in F1. Those that don’t agree to the cap would have more technical restrictions, something Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo had called “fundamentally unfair.”

Now F1 looks set to lose some of its biggest names, including championship leader Jenson Button of Brawn.

“The teams cannot continue to compromise on the fundamental values of the sport and have declined to alter their original conditional entries to the 2010 world championship,” FOTA said after a meeting near Silverstone. “These teams, therefore, have no alternative other than to commence the preparation for a new championship which reflects the values of its participants and partners. (AP)