20/06/2009
NEWS STORY
Despite the situation between FOTA and the FIA being at DEFCON 2, McLaren boss Martin Whitmarsh refuses to rule out the possibility of a compromise being found.
Speaking to reporters at Silverstone, the Englishman said: "I don't think FOTA rules anything out. The teams were presented with a deadline. We did request there was more time to find a solution but we didn't get it so a final decision was taken. The teams are ready to discuss with anybody how we go racing next year.
"The best solution has always been for the three factions that have been involved in these discussions to come together and agree," he continued, "In the absence of that you've got to decide either to stop racing or go and do something else."
However, should all else fail, and the teams need to follow up their threat and head off to start their own series, he is quite clear about what they are looking for.
"We're looking to try to have a series where teams and manufacturers have an influence on regulations, on where we go motor racing, on what we are being paid, and where there is a single set of regulations," he said. "They seem fairly reasonable pre-requisites to me."
Whitmarsh, however, who took over full control of the McLaren F1 team earlier this year, admits to sadness that things have gone this far.
"The teams have sought to enter," he said. "The conditions were very reasonable.
"Of course, it's sad," he continued. "It's not what the teams sought to do, or what FOTA was created to do, but there comes a point where forced into a deadline you have to make a decision for the good of the sport.
"If on Thursday night some teams had decided to enter then I am very confident there would have been a number of teams up and down this pit lane who would have left this sport, some big manufacturers, and I don't think they would have been able to have been encouraged back. We have concentrated on keeping as many teams together as possible.
"We want to race with Brawn, Toyota, Renault, Red Bull, BMW," he added. "The decision taken on Thursday was the only decision where there was a prospect of doing that next year."