Colin Kolles: HRT left Formula One Teams Association because of political reasons – Formula 1 news
Hispania Racing Team recently revealed that they are not a part of Formula One Teams Association anymore but they did not reveal the reason behind this sudden withdrawal.
According to Colin Kolles, the team left FOTA because of political reasons only.
There were rumours that the main reason behind HRT’s departure was that since the team was unable to pay its membership fees, they decided to leave or be kicked out of FOTA.
Colin cleared this matter as he claims that this was not the case. The team withdrew from FOTA in December and according to HRT’s spokesman, “FOTA is more for the big teams than the small ones.”
The McLaren boss and FOTA chairman Martin Whitmarsh denied this and stated that the organisation is not biased in any way towards the larger teams while referring to Tony Fernandes’ comments.
“HRT failed to fulfil its membership fee obligations. It's as simple as that. I've read reports in the media that some HRT personnel have claimed that FOTA disfavours smaller teams,” stated Martin.
On the other hand, HRT boss Colin Kolles insists that his team did not choose to renew its membership by its own will and the fees were not an issue at all.
“I can strictly deny it [membership being cancelled because of non-payment of dues]. FOTA has spread a misleading message which will be rectified in the coming days, however, for the moment I don't want to say anything else,” he told the media.
He added that HRT did not agree with the organisation’s stance about the upcoming negotiations regarding the next Concorde Agreement that deals with the commercial side of the sport. Since a new agreement is expected to come to power after the expiration
of the 2010 agreement, it is expected that the new agreement will push for the teams to get a greater share of the sport’s revenues in prize money.
Colin on the other hand stated that he wants to keep his teams’ dealings with the sport’s owners CVC Capital and FIA’s CEO Bernie Ecclestone rather than FOTA.
“We left because FOTA defends mainly the interests of the big teams. We see no benefit in paying money for being part of it. We prefer investing our money in the car, instead of paying membership fees that don't benefit to us,” said Kolles.
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