The Formula One Team Association (FOTA) has announced their intention to withdraw from the Formula One Championship at the end of the season and create their own championship series for 2010. FOTA is comprised of Brawn GP, McLaren, Renault, Ferrari, BMW Sauber, Toyota, Red Bull and Toro Rosso. FOTA has been frustrated by recent budget cap proposals of £40 million and a general disregard of the team’s opinions by the FIA.

Click through to read the statement released by FOTA:

“Since the formation of Fota last September the teams have worked together and sought to engage the FIA and commercial rights holder (Bernie Ecclestone), to develop and improve the sport.”"Unprecedented worldwide financial turmoil has inevitably placed great challenges before the F1 community.

“Fota is proud that it has achieved the most substantial measures to reduce costs in the history of our sport.

“In particular, the manufacturer teams have provided assistance to the independent teams, a number of which would probably not be in the sport today without the Fota initiatives.

“The Fota teams have further agreed upon a substantial voluntary cost reduction that provides a sustainable model for the future.

“Following these efforts, all the teams have confirmed to the FIA and the commercial rights holder that they are willing to commit until the end of 2012.

“The FIA and the commercial rights holder have campaigned to divide Fota.

“The wishes of the majority of the teams are ignored. Furthermore, tens of millions of dollars have been withheld from many teams by the commercial rights holder, going back as far as 2006.

“Despite this, and the uncompromising environment, Fota has genuinely sought compromise.

“It has become clear, however, the teams cannot continue to compromise on the fundamental values of the sport and have declined to alter their original conditional entries to the 2010 world championship.”

This series will have transparent governance, one set of regulations, encourage more entrants and listen to the wishes of the fans, including offering lower prices for spectators worldwide, partners and other important stakeholders,” added the statement.

“The major drivers, stars, brands, sponsors, promoters and companies historically associated with the highest level of motorsport will all feature in this new series.”

Australia’s only Formula 1 driver, Mark Webber, has stated the Red Bull F1 cars are not going to be competitive at this weekend’s Australian Grand Prix. He has stated that the Red Bull cars don’t feel bad, but the other team’s cars are just performing much better. Webber also said that the car setup favors the driving style of new Red Bull teammate Sebastian Vettel more than his own. The favorites to the win the Aussie Grand Prix include Williams, Ferrari, and BMW according to Webber.

Webber has also joined in on criticizing the FIA’s new scoring system which would crown the champion based on which driver wins the most amount of races as opposed to the previous points system. The FIA has since postponed this new rule due to the outcry from teams and drivers.

Source: smh.com.au

The Red Bull Formula 1 team has released their new challenger for the 2009 season, the RB5. This is the car Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber will be driving this season. The Red Bull team has high hopes for Vettel after last season when he became the youngest ever driver to win a Formula 1 race.

Click through to view the gallery.

Sebasitian Vettel (the other Formula One young phenom) is off to a great start with his new Red Bull team. He set the fastest lap for the second straight day in Formula One testing at Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya. His fastest lap was set at 1:19.295. Vettel is coming off a great year with Toro Rosso in which he became the youngest driver to win a Formula One race with his impressive performance at Monza.

Source: The Canadian Press