Politics are all the rage in F1 at the moment - just check out the response to our latest Talking Point - but perhaps the most important discussion of all is one that is happening in the background: the collaborative process between the teams and the FIA as they construct a roadmap for the future of the sport, which is likely to result in major regulation changes for the sport between 2009 and 2012.

On 18 September 2006, following a meeting between the FIA, the teams, the manufacturers and the GPMA, a joint release was issued with the following mission statement for the sport's future:

"the objective of all new Formula One regulations should be to maintain F1 as the pinnacle of motor sport and to satisfy at least one of the following criteria: to improve the show, to improve cost effectiveness, to improve safety, to promote technology relevant to society at large, to facilitate brand recognition."

Since that time, those guiding principles have been transformed into a series of framework documents designed to prompt the discussion and definition of a set of rules for the sport's future. With the process making productive progress, we felt it was time to sit down and try to get to the bottom of why the sport needs to change, what those changes are designed to achieve and what they will mean for the sport's fans.

The latest edition of the ING Renault F1 Team Podcast is therefore a two-part "summer special" looking at the Future of F1. The team's Executive Director of Engineering Pat Symonds is joined by Observer and BBC Radio 5 Live journalist Maurice Hamilton to discuss the five main principles driving the process and to debate some of the key issues at stake. The result is a wide-ranging discussion that examines the sport's future in detail, reveals how the sport is already meeting some of its future goals – and embraces the process of change that is already well underway.

To download or listen to the Podcast You can listen to the ING Renault F1 Team Podcast with the audio player on the team's official website.

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