According to the 63-year old Frenchman, the matter has already been discussed within the World Motor Sport Council (WMSC), and the members of the FIA body agreed that the teams having financial difficulties to appear in 3 consecutive or non-consecutive grands prix will not be ousted from the championship. From 3 races on, however, the international body is likely to take some drastic measures in order to fill up the void in the 2010 entry list.
“In the last World Council the opportunity for a team to not participate in three rounds of the championship, also not consecutively, was granted,” confirmed Todt for Gazzetta dello Sport newspaper.
Additionally, he insisted that the teams that are to replace the two – of course, if that were to happen – will be decided upon by the FIA, not Bernie Ecclestone. Obviously, he referred to the fact that the 79-year old Brit publicly stated his support of Serbian outfit Stefan GP for the 2010 F1 entry list.
“If a team drops out of the championship, the insertion of a new team is not automatic. It is always up to the FIA to decide whether someone is eligible or not,” added the Frenchman.
The two teams missing out on the first few races of the season might also pose some problems from the point-scoring point of view, as the 2010 grid would only have 22 cars instead of 26. That means almost half of the cars on the grid would walk away with points on the scoreboard, since the new format awards points to the Top 10 finishers.
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