It had all seemed like things were settling down. The big guns had decided to stay back in Formula One, the budget cap was bottled, and three news teams were being introduced for the new season. But can Formula One survive without controversy? It’s a question that Bernie Ecclestone might find it hard to say “yes” to.
Not even a couple of weeks have gone by since the row between FOTA and the FIA had subsided, that soon to be ex-President of the FIA, Max Mosley decided to go on the offensive against Luca di Montezemolo demanding an apology for disclosing details to the media that weren’t meant to be disclosed. 
As if that weren’t enough, Bernie Ecclestone himself went on record saying that Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler was a man who could “get things done”. He also went on to draw flak for saying that Max Mosley would have been a better prime minister of England than Gordon Brown or Tony Blair.
With these noises still ringing in our ears, another issue has cropped up and this time, it’s the teams that were not picked by the FIA as part of the lineup for the 2010 season. The 2010 season will see 26 cars lineup on the grid, instead of 20 like the current season. This was mainly to accommodate the new teams wanting to take a piece of the cake.
After the FIA announced that Manor F1, USF1 and Campos Racing would be the three teams to make the lineup, there was a lot of hue and cry over the selection process and how, names like Lola and Aston Martin were left out of the lineup. 
On the condition of anonymity, a team principle released a letter to the media stating that “We were told that if we wanted to take up he 2010 grid slot, we would have to sign a 3-year engine contract with Cosworth”. There was a lot of hue and cry amongst the team principles who believe that foul play, rather than fair selection, was behind their ousting from the running for the 2010 championships.
One team boss, in his letter, went on to state that the selection of the three teams had been “hand-picked for political, rather than sport criteria”.
Engine manufacturers Cosworth have come out strongly and denied the rumours stating that they didn’t, in any way, ask the FIA to recommend their engines to the new manufacturers at any point of time.
The FIA have fueled some of these rumours after a spokesman said that it was a “priority” for the FIA to have an independent supply of engines otherwise “the whole grid would be at the mercy of the car industry and no new team would be able to enter without their permission.”
Another week, another new controversy crops up in the FIA soap-opera. Tune in next week, same-time, same-day, to hear the rest on “FIA and the art of F1 Maintenance”.