The FIA has announced that Renault has been given a two-year suspended ban for the race fixing scandal that hit the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix.

Following a meeting of the World Motor Sport Council in Paris, the governing body revealed that Renault’s actions – which it stated were of ‘unparalleled severity’ – were deemed serious enough to merit ‘permanent disqualification from the FIA Formula One World Championship’.

However, with the team having admitted its guilt and taken steps to address the problem by removing both Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds from their roles, the decision was taken to suspend the disqualification until the end of the 2011 season. Any comparable breach during that time will see Renault’s disqualification from the sport activated.

Renault has also agreed to make a significant contribution to FIA safety-related projects and will pay the costs incurred by the FIA during its investigation.

While Nelson Piquet Jr will not face any sanctions – having been granted immunity by the governing body in exchange for giving information against his former employers – the same can’t be said for both Briatore and Symonds, who have been hit hard by the FIA.

The statement from the WMSC revealed that, for an unlimited period, ‘the FIA does not intend to sanction any International Event, Championship, Cup, Trophy, Challenge or Series involving Mr. Briatore in any capacity whatsoever, or grant any license to any Team or other entity engaging Mr. Briatore in any capacity whatsoever. It also hereby instructs all officials present at FIA-sanctioned events not to permit Mr. Briatore access to any areas under the FIA’s jurisdiction’.

The former team principle will also face the prospect of losing a number of drivers currently under his management after the FIA revealed that it will not renew the superlicence of any driver associated with Briatore ‘or any entity or individual associated with him’. Fernando Alonso, Mark Webber and Heikki Kovalainen are amongst the drivers currently managed by the Italian.

Disgraced former director of engineering Symonds faces a similar ban for a period of five years.

The WMSC also reiterated that Alonso, the beneficiary of the incident as he secured victory in F1’s first night race, was not involved in any way with what occurred.

Just moments after the conclusion of second free practice for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, the FIA has announced that it will begin legal proceedings against the Formula One Teams Association over its proposal to form a breakaway series to rival F1.

FOTA made the announcement late on Thursday night that it was to start its own series in 2010, having failed to reach an agreement with the FIA to commit to the F1 grid for next season thanks to the ongoing dispute over Max Mosley’s idea for a budget cap.

BMW Sauber, Brawn GP, Ferrari, McLaren, Red Bull Racing, Toro Rosso, Renault and Toyota all planned to quit F1 as a result of the ongoing dispute but the governing body has now responded with the threat of legal action.

In a short statement, the FIA revealed that the teams – and Ferrari in particular – had contractual commitments to F1 that couldn’t broken, leaving it with little option but to begun legal proceedings.

The governing body also confirmed that the publication of the 2010 entry list has also been delayed.

“The FIA’s lawyers have now examined the FOTA threat to begin a breakaway series,” the missive read. “The actions of FOTA as a whole, and Ferrari in particular, amount to serious violations of law including wilful interference with contractual relations, direct breaches of Ferrari’s legal obligations and a grave violation of competition law. The FIA will be issuing legal proceedings without delay.

“Preparations for the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship continue but publication of the final 2010 entry list will be put on hold while the FIA asserts its legal rights.”

The FIA has unveiled the 13 teams that will provisionally make up the 2010 Formula 1 grid – with all ten present incumbents on the list, two anticipated newcomers and one bolt from the blue.

Following negotiations between the sport’s governing body and the Formula One Teams’ Association (FOTA) that continued right up until the announcement, it has been revealed that McLaren-Mercedes, BMW-Sauber, Renault, Toyota and Brawn GP are all still lodged as conditional entries, with the official statement adding that ‘the FIA has invited them to lift those conditions following further discussions to be concluded not later than close of business on Friday, 19 June’.

On the list as unconditional entries are Williams and Force India, stable-mates Red Bull Racing and Scuderia Toro Rosso – as anticipated – and, more controversially perhaps, Ferrari. Along with rivals Toyota, Renault and Red Bull, the Scuderia had been one of the teams most vociferously outspoken in its opposition to Max Mosley’s contentious £40 million budget cap initiative – with F1’s longest-serving and arguably most loyal entrant vowing to end six decades’ unbroken participation at the highest level should the FIA President not back down.

Ferrari had argued that in driving through the cap without first consulting competitors about it, the FIA had reneged on exclusive rights it guaranteed to the team in 2005 in exchange for the secret €100 million deal brokered by Luca di Montezemolo that quashed the danger of a manufacturer-led breakaway series and led to the signing of the new commercial rights-based Concorde Agreement.

However, Mosley’s contention was always that Ferrari remains contractually-bound to honour its own side of the bargain, by which it committed to F1 until 2012 – and the Englishman is adamant that the Maranello-based outfit gave up its special rights when it helped to form FOTA. It remains to be seen what will be the next salvo in the Ferrari-FIA war.

The new arrivals on the grid, meanwhile, are Team USF1, Campos Grand Prix and, somewhat surprisingly, Manor Grand Prix, with no room at the inn for Prodrive/Aston Martin, Lola, March, Brabham, Lotus, Team Superfund, N.Technology or Epsilon Euskadi.

The FIA statement in full:
2010 FIA Formula One World Championship Entry List

Following the completion of the applications process for teams to compete in the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship, the following teams have been confirmed.

TEAM / CONSTRUCTOR
SCUDERIA FERRARI MARLBORO / FERRARI
SCUDERIA TORO ROSSO / STR TBA
RED BULL RACING / RBR RENAULT
AT&T WILLIAMS / WILLIAMS TOYOTA
FORCE INDIA F1 TEAM / FORCE INDIA MERCEDES
CAMPOS GRAND PRIX / CAMPOS COSWORTH
MANOR GRAND PRIX / MANOR COSWORTH
TEAM US F1 / TEAM US F1 COSWORTH
VODAFONE McLAREN MERCEDES* / McLAREN MERCEDES
BMW SAUBER F1 TEAM* / BMW SAUBER
RENAULT F1 TEAM* / RENAULT
PANASONIC TOYOTA RACING* / TOYOTA
BRAWN GP FORMULA ONE TEAM* / BRAWN TBA

The warring Formula One Teams’ Association (FOTA) and FIA have made ‘a small amount of progress’ in the dispute over the controversial £40 million budget cap that Max Mosley intends introducing into the top flight next year – but still no agreement.

Following the reunion between all FOTA members aboard Flavio Briatore’s yacht earlier in the day ahead of this weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix , the sport’s ten competitors headed into their second crisis meeting with Mosley confident that they now held ‘a common view’ on how best F1 should look to the future in terms of cost-reduction and a universal position from which to re-initiate negotiations.

The FIA President’s argument is that without a significant reduction in spending in what is by some margin the world’s most expensive sport, F1 will not survive, fearing more car makers will follow Honda’s lead in withdrawing should costs not be brought dramatically down in an age of global recession. The Englishman similarly contends that new teams will only be willing to make the graduation in the knowledge that they will be able to race at a competitive level without having to spend hundreds of millions of pounds in order to do so. Campos Meta 1 and Team USF1 have both already lodged applications for the three slots currently available on next year’s starting grid.

Claiming that the change in regulations would by contrast engender a ‘two-tier’ championship of haves and have-nots, with those choosing to adhere to the cap benefitting from greater technical freedoms than their rivals, the sport’s present incumbents have also pointed out that many of the larger operations would simply be unable to sufficiently reduce their expenditure – in some cases as high as £200 million per year – in time to comply for next season.

Ferrari, Renault, Toyota and Red Bull have all categorically vowed to quit if Mosley refuses to back down, and despite there still being no resolution to the stand-off – one that threatens to tear F1 in two – FOTA has revealed that ‘a small amount of progress’ was made by way of a ‘constructive’ meeting, as both parties prepare to continue discussions in the Principality on Saturday in the aim of finding a satisfactory compromise.

“We had a very long, productive meeting,” reported FOTA chairman Luca di Montezemelo. “FOTA will have another meeting tomorrow (Saturday), to discuss, and then we will meet Mosley again.”

“We had a good, constructive meeting and there are ongoing discussions,” echoed the FIA President, speaking to BBC Sport. “We spent three hours in there. Everybody knows what the issues are, [and] I’m always confident there will be an agreement.”