Mosley: F1 Can Survive Without Ferrari
Max Mosley, the president of motorsport governing body the FIA, has stated that F1 can survive without Ferrari after the high-profile team labelled a new £40m budget cap as ‘fundamentally unfair’.
The FIA has announced a £40m budget cap for teams from 2010 in a move to implement cost-cutting measures in the light of car manufacturers struggling in the recession.
However the Ferrari team has expressed reservations about certain elements of the new regulation leading to Mosley dismissing their objections.
Said the FIA president: ‘The sport could survive without Ferrari. It would be very sad. It is the Italian national team.
‘I hope and think that when a team goes to its board and says, ‘I want to go to war with the FIA, because I want to be able to spend £100m more than the FIA want me to spend,’ then the board will say, ‘why can’t you spend £40m if the other teams can do it?”
The budget cap, to be introduced next season, rewards teams who comply with greater technical freedom and unlimited out-of-season testing.
Teams who exceed the limit – which does not cover some expenses such as driver salaries, fines, and marketing – do not face any fixed penalties, but will have their fate decided by the FIA depending on the degree of their overspend.
Independent F1 teams such as Brawn GP have supported the measures, with current championship leader Jenson Button telling BBC Sport at the Sport Industry Awards 2009 that he backed Mosley’s budget cap.
Said Button: ‘For the manufacturers and the bigger teams I’m sure they don’t want that, but for teams like Brawn we need that for the future.
‘It’s the way F1 has to go in the times that we are experiencing. For us and Williams and a few other teams we’ll be reasonably happy with the decision – it’s going in the direction that we need it to.’
The Formula One Teams Association will discuss the new proposals in London this week.
Teams wishing to compete in next year’s championship must notify the FIA between 22nd and 29th May and state whether they wish to compete under the cost-cap regulations.
