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economic recession. This led to the end of manufacturer dominance within the sport. In the 2010 season Mercedes Benz re-entered the sport as a manufacturer after its purchase of Brawn GP, and split with McLaren after 15 seasons with the team. This leaves Mercedes, Renault, and Ferrari as the only car manufacturers in the sport. AT&T Williams confirmed towards the end of 2009 their new engine deal with Cosworth, who also supply the wave of new teams Virgin Racing, Hispania Racing F1, and the newly formed Lotus F1 team. The exit of car manufacturers has also paved the way for teams representing their countries, with some having the financial backing of their respective national governments (such as Lotus), something not seen since the 1930s. The battle for control of Formula One was contested between the Fédération Internationale du Sport Automobile (FISA), at the time an autonomous subcommittee of the FIA, and FOCA (the Formula One Constructors' Association). The beginnings of the dispute are numerous, and many of the underlying reasons may be lost in history. The teams (excepting Ferrari and the other major manufacturers - Renault and Alfa Romeo in particular) were of the opinion that their rights and ability to compete against the larger and better funded teams were being negatively affected by a perceived bias on the part of the controlling organisation (FISA) toward the major manufacturers.
Political Disputes
In addition, the battle revolved around the commercial aspects of the sport (the FOCA teams were unhappy with the disbursement of proceeds from the races) and the technical regulations which, in FOCA's opinion, tended to be malleable according to the nature of the transgressor more than the nature of the transgression. The war culminated in a FOCA boycott of the 1982 San Marino Grand Prix months later. In theory, all FOCA teams were supposed to boycott the Grand Prix as a sign of solidarity and complaint at the handling of the regulations and financial compensation (and extreme opposition to the accession of Balestre to the position of FISA president:both Colin Chapman of Lotus and Frank Williams of Williams stated clearly that they would not continue in Formula One with Balestre as its governor). In practice,