PARIS // The FIA president Max Mosley said today there will be a unified Formula One championship in 2010 after reaching a cost-cutting deal with the eight teams which threatened to form a rival series. As a result of the deal in Paris, Mr Mosley said: "I will not be up for re-election now we have peace." Last weekend he announced he was seriously considering running for a fifth term as head of F1's governing body. Mr Mosley has been the president of the FIA, the international automobile federation which governs Formula One, since 1993.
Eight teams - Ferrari, McLaren, BMW Sauber, Renault, Toyota, Red Bull, Toro Rosso and Brawn GP - had announced they were pulling out of Formula One last Friday after talks broke down over the introduction of a voluntary $65 million (Dh239m) budget cap from next season. "There will be no split. We have agreed to a reduction of costs," Mr Mosley said. "There will be one F1 championship, but the objective is to get back to the spending levels of the early nineties within two years." Mr Mosley said the deal still maintains the "financial viability" of teams which he had been targeting with the initial cap. As part of the agreement, existing teams must help new outfits with their engines and chassis. *AP
