Jenson Button is set to be rewarded for an outstanding start to the season by Brawn with a lucrative new contract. Photograph: Paul Gilham/Getty Images
The row that has threatened to rip formula one asunder is expected to be settled today when the nine remaining members of the Formula One Teams' Association are expected to follow Williams' example and submit their entries for the 2010 world championship before the final deadline expires.
The teams are seeking to bring economic stability to a sport which in the past has seen its spending run out of control and if the final few loose ends can be tied up, it is expected that at 12.30 today the formal entries from Ferrari, McLaren, Renault, Toyota, Red Bull, Toro Rosso, BMW Sauber, Brawn and Force India will be delivered by hand from FOTA's office in Geneva to the base of the sport's governing body, the FIA, which is in the same Swiss city.
None of the teams would comment on the issue but it is understood that the teams' conditions are that all should sign a new Concorde agreement, the regulatory and commercial protocol which has governed the sport for the past 25 years. The technical regulation should essentially remain the same in 2010 as they are this year, and the controversial budget cap, which the FIA wants to peg at 45m euros, should be deferred until 2011 with the spending limit set at 100m euros for 2010 as an interim measure. In the event of the number of cars on the starting grid dropping below 20 in future years, contingency plans under consideration include some teams fielding a third car, with the proviso that it would be driven by a young novice driver.
As far as new teams are concerned, despite much speculation and tub-thumping on the part of the FIA, it is clear that most of those who showed interest initially are in no position to raise 45m euros, let alone next year's proposed cap of 100m euros. As one insider commented yesterday: "When you think just how much trouble the Brawn team are having bagging a major title sponsor, even after winning five of the season's first six races, then you can see just what sort of effect the economic depression is really having."
However it emerged last night that Prodrive, the Banbury-based automotive specialist preparation group which for many years has fielded the factory Subarus in the world rally championship, will be the only new team to enter with a serious likelihood of being accepted into the formula one fold.
Founded by former rally co-driver David Richards, Prodrive has been flirting around the edges of formula one for many years and Richards has had spells as team principal of both the Benetton and BAR-Honda teams.
He has on many occasions described formula one as "unfinished business" as far as he is concerned and it would come as no surprise if Prodrive's entry was lodged today. In line with an accord thrashed out between FOTA and the FIA that the existing teams should be prepared in the longer term to help smaller organisations make an entry to the sport's most senior category, Prodrive may benefit from the use of Mercedes engines. Many of the sport's insiders believe that a Prodrive formula one team will be a trailer for a fully-fledged entry from iconic British sports car maker Aston Martin, possibly in 2012.
Meanwhile, one man who is happy to be feeling the effects of the credit crunch is Jenson Button. The world championship leader was willing to see his £8m retainer slashed in half when Honda withdrew and Ross Brawn engineered a lifeline to save the team. Now Button is poised to be offered a lucrative long-term deal which will more than make up for his financial shortfall at the beginning of the year.
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