Brawn rues FOTA split

22/02/2012

Ross Brawn believes that those teams that have opted to leave the teams' alliance, FOTA, will come to regret the decision.

Ferrari, Red Bull and Toro Rosso all announced their intention to leave FOTA at the end of 2011, leaving just seven remaining teams.

While Ferrari claimed that FOTA had "run its course", fact is, after a period of surprising harmony the old crack began to appear, teams raising suspicions at to whether rivals were sticking to the Resource Restriction Agreement (RRA).

Speaking in Barcelona, Mercedes boss Brawn, says he is convinced that in time those team that have left will rue their decision.

"We are very committed to FOTA and we think it's a great shame that we've lost the members because I think we may live to regret that," he said.

"I think when there was outside pressure it pushed FOTA together," he continued, "now that there's not so much outside pressure the natural competitiveness of the teams is pushing us apart a bit.

"But I think we are very short-sighted in not recognising that FOTA has a very important role to play. I think it is an unfortunate feature of Formula One that we all find it fairly difficult to come together.

"I'm a great believer in FOTA but I'm disappointed, obviously, with what has happened in the last few months. I think we're going to regret it in Formula One because one of the objectives of FOTA was to find the right solutions for Formula One, not just the right solutions for an individual team."

Referring to the RRA, the teams' alternative to the FIA's planned budget capping, he said: "The RRA is very important. We've got to find some means of restraining the costs overall and technical regulations and formal regulations will only go part way.

"The concept of the RRA is very important, but it does need everyone to commit to it and work together to find the best solution to having an RRA system.

"We are committed to it and we are going to persevere to try and make sure it is applied properly and it's viable for the future of Formula One. I think without it we are at high risk."