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Waiting for the EU

The influence of the F1 Strategy Group has been called into question © Sutton Images

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Thanks to the efforts of Labour MEP (Member of the European Parliament) Anneliese Dodds, the European Union's (EU) competition commissioner has agreed to look into the governance of Formula One. And while the sport is certainly in a mess that needs fixing, EU involvement could prove to be the last thing anyone needs.

An EU investigation is no quick fix - should the Commission decide to take a long hard look at the way the sport is run, it will take two to three years for the investigation to be completed and findings reported. Implementation of any potential demands will take longer still.

But not only is it no quick fix - it is far from being a magic bullet. After all, it was the last EU investigation which paved the way for the current division of spoils, with Bernie Ecclestone acquiring the commercial rights so that anti-competition regulations would be met.

Not only does the FIA no longer have the sort of absolute control it had in the days when Max Mosley and Bernie Ecclestone were marching to the same drum, these days it lacks even the regulatory authority it was expected to keep when the EU competition department closed its last investigation into the sport in 2001.

Having attempted to impose some form of cost controls into the 2015 Formula One regulations - a notion which was then ratified by the World Motor Sport Council in January - by the time the Bahrain Grand Prix rolled around in April FIA President Jean Todt was forced to admit to the attendant media that he no longer had the regulatory authority to do so.

The problem was the introduction of the F1 Strategy Group, which was born out of the Concorde Agreement negotiations that led to tripartite agreements between the teams, the commercial rights holder, and the FIA in the summer of 2013.

"Most of the teams were in favour of the cost cap, but I understand that all the teams that are part of the Strategy Group are against it now," Todt said in Sakhir. "So clearly, if the commercial rights holder, and if six teams, which means 12 of 18 are against, I cannot impose it. It's mathematics. So in this case, no more cost cap."

That a body should exist which has the ability to overturn decisions ratified by the World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) is problematic. The Strategy Group's members insist that it is a forum for debate and discussion, with Red Bull team principal Christian Horner saying in Abu Dhabi: "As far as the regulatory value of the Strategy Group, anything that the Strategy Group discusses has to still go through the Formula One Commission that every team is represented on, as are the promoters and the FIA, before it's passed into being a regulation. So it's very much a discussion forum."

But it's a discussion forum with the apparent ability to veto rules, even if it cannot write them without passing proposed regulations through the proper channels.

When the Strategy Group met last week they took the decision to scrap both the double-points finale and plans for standing Safety Car restarts. Cost cutting was on the agenda, and while it was said to have dominated the bulk of the group's discussions, no progress was made, and reportedly no new recommendations regarding cost saving will be passed on to this week's WMSC meeting.

Whether or not the WMSC attempts to impose cost cutting on Formula One, having already had its fingers burned in the attempt, remains to be seen. In a battle of wills, will it be the WMSC that wins out, or will the Strategy Group prove the stronger force? If it's the latter, expect the EU to take an even greater interest than it is at present.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.

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