As expected, FOTA backs down

(GMM) In the run to Sunday's Turkish grand prix, a rumour swept through the Istanbul paddock that the eight FOTA teams intended to boycott the race over the conflict with the governing body.

If confirmed, the situation would have left just Williams' Nico Rosberg and Kazuki Nakajima, and Force India's Adrian Sutil and Giancarlo Fisichella, on the grid.

The four drivers were the only ones not invited to a meeting with the FOTA teams in the Toyota motor home on Sunday morning, after which it was believed that the 16 drivers would from now on be fully supportive of their teams' political stance.

Sources report that the boycott threat was absolutely real, but predictably it came to nothing when it was time to form up on the dummy grid.

"No, we're racing, there's nothing to it (the rumour)," one official of a FOTA-affiliated team said.