Macca's 2008 F1 Commission Neglect

By Karl King
June 1 2006

The grin on the face of Ron Dennis, pictured to the left, would have been turned upside-down yesterday with the news that the FIA had opted to leave McLaren out of the 2008 F1 Commission. Max Mosely has decided to have only one team to represent each country.

For Britain, that one team was Williams, leaving McLaren with no vote on the rules for 2008.

Other teams that are in are Italy's Ferrari, Germany's BMW Sauber, Renault for France, Red Bull for Austria, despite being based in the UK, and Honda for Japan.

The only other big-shot to miss out is Toyota, with Honda getting the nod. Through Honda of course, Super Aguri are unlikely to miss out on much, the same going for Toro Rosso.

It seems strange to me that, despite the run-ins Dennis has had with Max Mosely over the years, one of the new teams on the block, Red Bull, should be in if McLaren are not. McLaren has given so much to the sport over the last four decades and seems to be getting nothing in return now. The team said this in a statement: "It seems surprising that the second oldest and most successful Formula One team for the past 40 years, with 148 Grand Prix victories, has not been included as a team representative."