FIA president Max Mosley (right) is sick of all this last minute nonsense.


He’s annoyed that in a billion dollar industry, the FIA doesn’t know from season to season who’ll be racing next year and who’s dropping out. He’s so mad in fact that he’s warned a couple of teams that they must commit in the next month to racing with F1 through 2008 or risk being replaced.


Entry to the 2008 championship will open in March, but teams have only been given a 10-day window in which to sign. After that, its open season; teams that do not sign could find themselves out of F1 and replaced by one of several smaller teams looking to enter F1.


Scuderia Torro Rosso, Williams, Ferrari, Midland F1, Red Bull and Super Aguri have already committed to F1 from 2008. But that still leaves the five Grand Prix Manufacturers' Association teams (BMW-Sauber, Honda, McLaren-Mercedes, Renault and Toyota) potentially out of the picture, unless they sign on soon. Those teams have been threatening to set up a rival series when the current Concorde Agreement runs out at the end of 2007.

According to Mosley: "From 2008 nobody has either a right or an obligation to enter the championship. We may have fewer vacancies than there are teams out there. We are going to stick to 12 teams because of safety. There are six already in, there are three, possibly four, people talking about entering and there are five GPMA teams."

Opinion: While its true that the major constructors have treatened to start a rival series on several previous occasions, it is important for Mosley to note that without them the FIA is nothing - while he puffs his chest out, he needs to bear that in mind.