15/10/2005
NEWS STORY
Speaking at the Shanghai International Circuit on Saturday, FIA President, Max Mosley, was somewhat reminiscent of former British Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, who, following a meeting with a certain Chancellor Hitler in Munich in 1938, returned to a worried Britain, waved a piece of paper, and talked of "peace for our time".
Talking of the threat of a breakaway series, headed by five manufacturers and a number of F1 teams, Mosley said: "There is a lot of progress being made and I think it's all going to end up quite peaceful."
Despite Mosley's belief that peace will reign, there is a lot of ground to be covered, and both the manufacturers and teams seem adamant that they wish to see a fairer share-out of the F1 'cake', more transparency regarding the way the sport is run, and a major overhaul of the sport's governance. Unless an amicable agreement can be reached, F1 faces a possible split in 2008.
In the meantime however, there's the little matter of the rules for 2006. Amongst the issues still be decided are tyre stops and a new qualifying format.
Originally a press conference had been scheduled for 11:15 this morning but this was cancelled at short notice. It's understood that Mosley was going to unveil further proposals for 2006, which were originally due to be revealed at Monza, but the teams are still demanding changes.
Ahead of a meeting of the Formula One Commission later this month, Mosley has been holding talks with Bernie Ecclestone, however he refused to say what agreements, if any, had been reached.
"I don't want to prejudice those (F1 Commission) discussions by talking too much about what's going on in public because there has been a lot of movement," he said. "From our point of view the talks were very positive and I don't see difficulties in the future."
Almost one full year after Chamberlain's declaration to the public, after which he said; "Go home and get a nice quiet sleep", Hitler described the agreement as just a "scrap of paper" and promptly invaded Poland. The rest is history.