Jan.11 (GMM) HRT left the F1 teams association FOTA because it did not pay last year's membership fees.

That is the claim of Simone Perillo, despite an HRT spokeswoman earlier insisting that the departure was the Spanish team's decision due to FOTA being "more for the big teams than the small ones".

"For our interests it is better not to be there," the HRT spokeswoman said.

But Perillo, Swiss-based FOTA's general secretary, confirmed that HRT did not pay the full EUR 100,000 membership fee for last year.

"I can confirm that (the team) did not fulfil their 2010 FOTA membership fee obligations," he told the Reuters news agency.

The logos of the other eleven F1 teams are still showing on the FOTA website.

McLaren's Martin Whitmarsh, with Stefano Domenicali as his vice-chairman, is expected to retain the chairmanship in 2011, despite earlier expectations that Williams' Adam Parr might be appointed.

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