FOTA officially disbands as a unit - MotorSportsTalk

Rare is that you can get all 11 Formula One teams to agree on something, but for several years, they did as part of the Formula One Teams’ Association, or FOTA.

That day is no more, with the confirmation Friday that the working group has disbanded.

In a statement, FOTA secretary general Oliver Weingarten more or less said the changing tides of F1 politics helped the organization meet its demise.

“I can confirm that FOTA has today been disbanded as a result of its members’ having re-evaluated their requirements in the face of a changing political and commercial landscape in Formula 1,” Weingarten wrote.

As a personal add-on, Weingarten added on Twitter, “Thank you to all the fans for your support over the years. It has been a pleasure to work with you. I can now be followed @OWeingarten.”

Fan forums – the most recent and now last of which was held in November in Austin – were one of the excellent components FOTA brought to F1. Testing agreements also came to the fore before that.

Still, FOTA was formed as a way for the teams to present a united front to Bernie Ecclestone and then-FIA President Max Mosley (since replaced by Jean Todt) in discussing future commercial negotiations.

FOTA even presented the threat of a breakaway series, but it never materialized. As it was, several teams pulled out of the group, certain team principal positions changed, and the most recent change at McLaren (Eric Boullier in, Martin Whitmarsh out) was among the deciding blows.

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An IndyCar executive said there is “absolutely” disappointment that its long-awaited video game recently was delayed beyond its target date, but the series remains optimistic about the new title.

“Well, I don’t know how quick it will be, but the whole situation is important to us,” Penske Entertainment president and CEO Mark Miles said during a news conference Monday morning to announce IndyCar’s NTT title sponsorship. “Motorsport Games has spent a lot of money, a lot of effort to create an IndyCar title. What we’ve seen of that effort, which is not completely obvious, is very reassuring.

“I think it’s going to be outstanding. That’s our shared objective, that when it is released, it’s just widely accepted. A great credit both to IndyCar racing, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, something that our fans love.”

In June 2021, IndyCar announced a new partnership with Motorsport Games to create and distribute an IndyCar video game for the PC and Xbox and PlayStation consoles in 2023.

But during an earnings call last week, Motorsport Games said the IndyCar game had been delayed to 2024 to ensure high quality.

Somewhat compounding the delay is that IndyCar’s license for iRacing expired after the end of the 2022 season because of its exclusive agreement with Motorsport Games.

That’s resulted in significant changes for IndyCar on iRacing, which had provided a high-profile way for the series to stay visible during its 2020 shutdown from the pandemic. (Players still can race an unbranded car but don’t race on current IndyCar tracks, nor can they stream).

That’s helped ratchet up the attention on having a video game outlet for IndyCar.

“I wish we had an IndyCar title 10 years ago,” said Miles, who has been working with the organization since 2013. “We’ve been close, but we’ve had these I think speed bumps.”

IndyCar is hopeful the Motorsports Game edition will be ready at the start of 2024. Miles hinted that beta versions could be unveiled to reporters ahead of the time “to begin to show the progress in a narrow way to make sure we’ve got it right, to test the progress so that we’re ready when they’re ready.”

It’s been nearly 18 years since the release of the most recent IndyCar video game for console or PC.

“(We) better get it right,” Miles said. “It’s something we’re very close to and continue to think about what it is to make sure we get it over the line in due course.”