Mosley And F1 Teams To Discuss Cuts
FIA president Max Mosley is to sit down with F1 teams next week to discuss new cost-cutting measures for the sport.
Mosley has stated that F1 must reduce costs by 2010 to stay ‘credible’ amid a global financial crisis and has scheduled a meeting to take place in Geneva following this weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai.
The F1 teams are having their own meetings in China to refine their proposals for the future of the sport.
Among the proposals which are being developed under the auspices of the newly formed F1 teams’ association (FOTA) are reported to include a ban on refuelling, shorter races and restrictions on testing.
Mosley, who is keen to ensure that the privateer teams can afford to compete, is targeting huge savings in the power-train – the group of components that generate power and transfer it to the track, including the engine and gearbox.
Among the options put forward by Mosley include a standard engine produced by a supplier, with current engine makers free to build their own to the same design although the road-car manufacturers in F1 have made it clear they are opposed to this idea.
A second option is for a teams’ consortium to obtain a low-cost engine while a third, which was initially the idea of FOTA, would result in independent teams receiving a complete power-train for less than £3.9m a season.
