By Ian Lockwood
April 14 2005

In a move likely to upset some fellow competitors, Red Bull Racing seem set to attend Max Mosely's F1 Summit Meeting in London on Friday. Are Red Bull about to sign a new Concorde Agreement or just keeping their options open?

So far Ferrari is the only team to have signed up to an extended Concorde Agreement (a secret contract signed by all teams agreeing to how the sport is managed and funds distributed). The remaining teams are holding out for a much better (and more equitable) deal than they currently get from Bernie.

The "Group of Nine", as they have become known, are also threatening not to race in F1 beyond 2007 when the current Concorde agreement expires, instead racing in a new Grand Prix World Championship (GPWC) Series that the F1 Manufacturers (Renault, Mercedes, BMW, Toyota, & Honda) would set up.

The gap between the FIA, Ferrari, & Bernie on one side and the group of nine on the other, is increasingly widening. Ferrari for example being the only team not to join in with a gentlemans agreement to limit testing in order to reduce costs. A previous FIA meeting to discuss rule changes in 2008 and beyond was only attended by Ferrari.

The Group of Nine - now calling themselves "Grand Prix Racing" met last Thursday to discuss their plans for a breakaway championship. At that meeting there was apparently unanimous agreement that either all teams or none would go to Max's next rule discussion meeting on 15th April.

It now seems that Red Bull Racing, and possibly Jordan and/or Sauber will attend after all. Rather than an indication of an imminent defection back into the F1 fold, this move is seen as an attempt to remain neutral at this early stage and keep all options open.

''It's very likely that we will (attend),'' a  Red Bull Racing spokeswoman admitted. The Group of Nine's unoffical leader, Minardi's Paul Stoddart, however voiced his dissaproval at the decision, saying that it was "not in the spirit of the alliance." (is he turning into a Jedi Knight?)

Red Bull Racings motives may be much less sinister though. In a letter from the FIA to all team principles it was stated that four teams had asked for new issues to be broached at the meeting. It seems likely that Red Bull Racings attendance could be just to discuss the Friday test driver ruling in order to secure a seat for Christian Klien at Imola.

Do you think RBR are right to attend or not? Have your say on the message board

Ian Lockwood