mamoroso

From Autosport:


Ferrari threatens to leave F1 in 2010

By Jonathan Noble Tuesday, May 12th 2009, 14:53 GMT

Ferrari has confirmed that it will not enter next year's world championship unless plans for a voluntary £40 million budget cap are changed.

Although the team had expressed private reservations about the rule changes and governing processes for 2010, it finally went public with its intentions in a statement issued following a board meeting at Maranello on Tuesday afternoon.

"The same rules for all teams, stability of regulations, the continuity of the FOTA's endeavours to methodically and progressively reduce costs, and governance of Formula 1 are the priorities for the future," said the statement.

"If these indispensable principles are not respected and if the regulations adopted for 2010 will not change, then Ferrari does not intend to enter its cars in the next Formula 1 world championship. "

Entries for the 2010 world championship close on May 29, with Toyota and Red Bull's two F1 teams having already announced in public that they will not enter if the rules remain unchanged.

It is thought likely that the other manufacturer teams will also join a 'boycott' of lodging an entry by the deadline - with only the current independents Brawn GP, Williams and Force India outfits set to apply.

As with other teams, Ferrari's main cause of concern is the possibility of a two-tier F1 - which would come into force should some teams adopt to run under budget cap restrictions next year while others choose unrestricted finances.

Regarding the FIA's World Motor Sport Council meeting on April 29 that ratified the 2010 regulations, the Ferrari statement said: "Although this meeting was originally called only to examine a disciplinary matter, the decisions taken mean that, for the first time ever in Formula 1, the 2010 season will see the introduction of two different sets of regulations based on arbitrary technical rules and economic parameters.

"The Board considers that if this is the regulatory framework for Formula 1 in the future, then the reasons underlying Ferrari's uninterrupted participation in the world championship over the last 60 years – the only constructor to have taken part ever since its inception in 1950 – would come to a close."

Although Ferrari is totally opposed to a two-tier F1 system, and has questioned whether or not it is possible for a £40 million budget cap to be introduced next year, the Italian outfit is also concerned about governance of the sport.

As well as being unhappy about the way the rules were pushed through last year, Ferrari thinks there has not been enough consultation with the teams.

"The Board also expressed its disappointment about the methods adopted by the FIA in taking decisions of such a serious nature and its refusal to effectively reach an understanding with constructors and teams," added the statement.

"The rules of governance that have contributed to the development of Formula 1 over the last 25 years have been disregarded, as have the binding contractual obligations between Ferrari and the FIA itself regarding the stability of the regulations."

In light of the developments regarding next year's entry, Ferrari said its president Luca di Montezemolo had been told to look at alternative activities for the racing team.

"Ferrari trusts that its many fans worldwide will understand that this difficult decision is coherent with the Scuderia's approach to motor sport and to Formula 1 in particular, always seeking to promote its sporting and technical values," said the statement.

"The Chairman of the Board of Directors was mandated to evaluate the most suitable ways and methods to protect the company's interests."

Despite Ferrari's strong stance, the FIA said earlier today that it was optimistic a solution to the matter could be found soon. Di Montezemolo is expected to meet with FIA president Max Mosley in the next few days to discuss the situation."

mamoroso

I am not a big fan of LdM but I must say that Ferrari nailed it here.

Without even going into debating what the point of F1 would be on a limited budget can you imagine the stewards trying to figure out a 2-tier system with some teams having to obey some rules and other teams with free reins.

Veloce Raptor

A 2-tier system is pure lunacy. Whoever thought it up should be waterboarded with urine hourly for a year.







Professional Racing and Driving Coach

ltc

Max?

Veloce Raptor

Hmm. Max would probably pay extra for that.







Professional Racing and Driving Coach

ew928

Do you want to punish him or is this his reward for the insanity.
Thankyou leather clad vixen, may I have another.


The stewards have enuff problems trying to figure out 1 set of rules.

Flying Finn

I agree with what's been said above, especially with Ferrari's statement, water boarding with urine and even more so, Max paying (huge) extra for that.

Of course Ferrari isn't leaving F1 since these rules won't be adopted. Max & Bernie are real tools when it comes to rules of F1 but they're not that stupid that they'd go ahead with what they have now for 2010.

If Ferrari left F1, that would mean 50-70% of the fans would leave also. It would be great for Endurance racing as I can imagine they would shift their focus for that (how cool would it be to see Ferrari P1 car battle Audis & Peugeots?!).

But besides Ferrari (and possibly others leaving), these rules are just utter bull****. F1 is not meant to be cheap, it's the pinnacle of motorsport. If every rich guy with 50 or so millions to burn can enter F1, it will turn into champ car, indy or whatever and that's not what it's supposed to be, nor what people want.

There's already race series like that, let them be and keep F1 as pinnacle and stop screwing around with rules all the time!

Just when we've had 2 really great and exiting seasons in F1, what does Bernie & Max do? Completely change "everything". Great job...

Scootin159

No Ferrari = No Formula One

I personally like the budget-cap idea, as long as it does come with "softer" technical regulations. It seems almost like a return to the unique engineering environment of F1 in the late 60's through the mid 70's. However, $40m does seem like too much a cut for the first year, and the whole two-tier theory is just plain crazy. One set of regs, either budget capped or uncapped, but no two-tier set of rules.

gums

oh please, we've been down this road with Ferrari threatening to pull out so many times...

MTosi

If I were sportscar racing right now, I would first remove my head from my ****, make a good consistent set of rules (ie: ones that didn't involve diesels, KERs, hybrids, etc.), stipulate that they will not under any circumstance barring safety concerns be altered for 5+ years, and send out and invite to all the major manufacturers in F1.

Relating to the topic a two tier system is the stupidest idea ever (well close to it, I'd have to think through Bernie and Max's others before coming to a definite conclusion), especially considering the entire field is within two seconds....

ltc

FWIW, I thought the number discussed was a £40 million budget cap, which at current exchange rates is $60 million USD.

Seems way too small to run an around the world racing series like F1.

Land Jet

Somebody please take Bernie and Max out back and shoot them. Then install some fresh blood to run the thing. Maybe a guy who actually loves racing. And stop trying to turn F1 into IROC.

multi21

Bravo!!! Well said Finn, excellent on all points.

First Toyota, then Red Bull/Toro Rosso and now Ferrari that's 8 out of 20 cars on todays' grid that are going to pull out if this cap is in place by May 29th.

My feeling is that the FIA will concede as they have on the matter of the "Gold Medal" winner lunacy for this year and it looks like they will back away from the most race wins will win the WDC for 2010.

Love them or hate them, Formula 1 will not survive without Ferrari and it's fan base. The winners would be the sports car series and I hadn't even thought about the possibility of a Ferrari LMP1 or LMP2 car!!!

To cut costs in F1, simply stabilize the rules. Everytime they tinker, it costs these teams money.

If these rich guys, as Finn says, want to go racing for 40 mil. pounds, they already have a series for that and it's called GP2.

wanna911

Egggzactly.


I don't buy Ferrari taking 50-70% of F1 fans with them either, nor no F1 without them. Don't buy it one bit. Maybe some years ago, but not today.

Besides, the other teams running Ferrari engines would be better of with McLaren engines anyways. Ferrari can't even get the engines in their own cars right and all the teams the switched to or got McLaren engines have done better or are dominating the championship. I'm surprised anyone would continue to buy them. Renault and McLaren seem to make the best engines.

ew928

They should change the car specs every year to keep the team costs down.


Anyone seen those solar challenge races. Not very exciting. But don't use much gas.
Test the KERS cells by hooking it up to Max and Bernie. I hear they glow in the dark.