Tuesday, 12 May 2009 16:00 UK

BBC Sport

Ferrari issue F1 quit ultimatum

 

Ferrari have threatened to quit Formula 1 at the end of the season if the sport continues with plans to introduce an optional £40m budget cap from 2010.

 

"No F1 in 2010 if the rules do not change," said a statement. "Ferrari does not intend to register cars for the 2010 F1 world championship."

 

Ferrari fear the evolution of a two-tier championship, between those teams who adopt the cap and those who do not.

 

The teams will discuss the plans with FIA chief Max Mosley in the next week.

 

Ferrari, in a statement, insist their announcement is not simply posturing: "The same rules for all teams, stability of regulations, the continuity of... endeavours to methodically and progressively reduce costs, and governance of Formula 1 are priorities for the future.

"If these indispensable principles are not respected, and if the regulations decided for 2010 will not change, Ferrari does not intend to enter its cars."

 

Ferrari's stance has divided opinion on whether or not they will go ahead with their threats of withdrawing.

 

Former team boss Eddie Jordan told the BBC: "Maybe this isn't the posturing that most people think it is - I wouldn't be certain that they wouldn't carry this out.

"Ferrari shareholders are very concerned at the losses that are being made in the company at this time, the credit crunch has had an impact, and I think this (announcement) is different.

"Everyone concerned would be very silly not to put 100% of their time, effort and diligence into making sure there is compatibility between the sport, the governing body and Ferrari."

 

The announcement will put to the test Mosley's resolve after he claimed earlier this month that F1 could live without Ferrari, the sport's most famous, most successful, and longest-tenured team.

 

"The sport could survive without Ferrari," he said. "It would be very sad. It is the Italian national team."

 

F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone, meanwhile, dismissed claims Ferrari could quit F1 on Tuesday, telling the Times: "Ferrari are not stupid. They don't want to leave Formula 1 and we don't want to lose them, so we'll get to grips with it."

 

However, Toyota and Red Bull have also already threatened not to enter next year's championship unless the new rules change.

 

And Ferrari have criticised the FIA's decision-making process, stating: "The rules of governance that have contributed to the development of F1 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.

"The same rules for all teams, stability of regulations, the continuity of the F1 Teams' Association's (FOTA) endeavours to methodically and progressively reduce costs, and governance of Formula 1 are the priorities for the future.

"If these indispensable principles are not respected and if the regulations adopted for 2010 will not change, then Ferrari do not intend to enter our cars in the next Formula 1 World Championship."

 

The FIA wants to introduce an optional £40m budget cap next year to encourage new teams to enter.

The plan would allow capped teams to operate with far greater technical freedom than those continuing with unlimited budgets.

 

However, Ferrari's president Luca di Montezemolo, head of FOTA, has warned it would create a two-tier championship that could be "fundamentally unfair and perhaps even biased".

 

The FIA has set a deadline of 29 May for teams wishing to compete in 2010 to enter and state whether they want a cap or not.

 

But, BBC Five Live Formula 1 correspondent David Croft fully expects Ferrari to line up on the grid in 2010, despite the threat.

"I would be amazed if Ferrari aren't racing in 2010," he said, "I think this is just the opening of a series of discussions that will take place between the sports most historic team and the governing body.

"It's inconceivable that we would have Formula 1 without Ferrari. Mosley says the sport doesn't need them, but I think a lot of people would beg to disagree."

 

That is a sentiment echoed by the sport's drivers, with world champion Lewis Hamilton saying he "could not imagine" F1 without Ferrari while Renault's Fernando Alonso added it was "impossible" for it to happen.

 

And BMW Sauber's Nick Heidfeld was left bemused by Mosley's comments.

He said: "I thought that people were looking and listening to the fans worldwide and Ferrari is obviously the biggest name in F1 with many supporters and has been there since the very beginning, so they belong in F1."

 

Ferrari, the sport's oldest and most successful team, also threatened a pull-out in October if proposals for a standard engine for all teams went ahead.

 

Do you support Ferrari's stance over proposed regulations for F1 in 2010 or not?

Yes! If they're going to introduce a budget cap then it should apply to everyone instead of seeing teams diverge in different directions.

 

What would be the difference if the Premier League introduced an optional budget cap in exchange for a 20 point head start on the rest?

 

F1 seems to spend most of its time making up new regulations rather than protecting the integrity of the sport.

Edited May 12, 200916 yr by Ethan.

If they leave good riddance. Their solution to F1 is unlimited budgets, that would force all the other teams out of the sport. Its funny how they talk about leaving while they have the worst start for 30 years, I somehow think if they were leading the table they would have said nothing. They have a crap car, and know the only way of improving it is to throw cash at the problem. It doesn't help that one of their drivers doesnt give a monkeys atm, and the other one is still pissed off getting pipped at the post last year.

I hope hey don't let the door hit them on the way out. Wouldn't wanna hurt the doors feelings.

If they leave good riddance. Their solution to F1 is unlimited budgets, that would force all the other teams out of the sport. Its funny how they talk about leaving while they have the worst start for 30 years, I somehow think if they were leading the table they would have said nothing. They have a crap car, and know the only way of improving it is to throw cash at the problem. It doesn't help that one of their drivers doesnt give a monkeys atm, and the other one is still pissed off getting pipped at the post last year.

 

I think you'll find Ferrari want budget caps - After all Fiat have been saying the Ferrari F1 outfit is unsustainable for a long time. The way this budget cap is being introduced however is simply unacceptbale. to reduce a £300m company to £40m would result is mass job losses and a complete restructure which is quite frankly impossible. The two-tier system is disgraceful as it would create a bunch of unimaginaitve yet dangerously fast class of cars whilst those most innovative would be restricted to sitting at the back.

 

I genuinely hope Ferrari doesn't leave and I am by no means a Ferrari fan. Big manufacturers are necessary to give F1 the brand name of the world' greatest motor sport, the FIA does not seem to realise that all teams want to reduce costs and so there is no need to introduce a raft of radical uncompromising rules which may result in half of the field leaving (including Renault, Phil).

^ I agree with what you said

 

Considering Toyota, McLaren and Ferrari all spend 300million + it's unthinkable to make the budget £40m

 

I think it should be capped at maybe £150m next year and be brought down slowly, settling probably at £100m.

There are some things the cap doesn't include.

 

Plus Renault are for the cap, we don't spend much anyway and less cost intensive F1 = Renault staying in for longer

Ferrari are F1

 

Well not literally but they are by far the biggest supported team in the world, some 38% of F1 fans are Ferrari fans according to BusinessF1 magazine so 38% less watching races on tv, 38% less turning up at GP's, empty stands at Monza, F1 would not survive long term without Ferrari that is why Ferrari get a bonus payment in the Concorde Agreement that other teams don't get

I think they're spot on. I think the budget cap is a good idea but it needs to be done in stages, you simply cannot go to £40m when it would mean numerous teams having to cut their spending by over 80%!

Edited May 13, 200916 yr by RabbitFurCoat

There are some things the cap doesn't include.

 

Plus Renault are for the cap, we don't spend much anyway and less cost intensive F1 = Renault staying in for longer

 

:lol:

 

Wednesday, 13 May 2009 13:44 UK

Renault join F1 pull-out threat

BBC Sport

 

Renault are the latest high-profile team threatening to quit Formula 1 unless proposals to adopt a £40m budget cap in 2010 are shelved.

On Tuesday, Ferrari joined Toyota and Red Bull in declaring their intention to pull out of F1 because of the plans.

 

And Renault boss Flavio Briatore said: "If the decisions are not revised, we have no choice but to withdraw from the world championship at the end of 2009."

 

Ferrari, meanwhile, say they will race in other series if they quit the sport.

 

"If it really was like that, then I have to say that our cars will race in other competitions, where - and I am absolutely convinced about that - they will find the enthusiasm and the passion of millions of fans," said Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo.

"Racing is part of Ferrari's DNA and this is something that will never change."

 

Reports have speculated that the Italian team might set up a rival series, compete in the United States, or enter cars in the Le Mans 24 hour race.

And Ferrari driver Felipe Massa insists the team would make a success of a change of series, saying: "Since I was a child, Ferrari has been the synonym for racing for me.

"That's why I'm convinced that even if the Scuderia is forced to leave F1, there will be other competitions where it will be possible to admire the Reds on the track.

"I understand why the company has got to this point. The idea of having a championship with two velocities, with cars, which for example are allowed to have flexible wings or an engine without a rev limiter, is absurd."

 

The FIA, the sport's governing body, want an optional £40m budget cap in order to encourage new teams to enter.

The plan would allow capped teams to operate with far greater technical freedom than those continuing with unlimited budgets.

 

However, big teams fear the rules will effectively split F1 into two tiers, those that can live with the cap and enjoy the technical advantages and those that cannot.

It is understood a flexible rear wing alone, currently outlawed but available to a team next season working within the cap, could lead to a car being two seconds per lap quicker than those without.

 

"Renault has always considered Formula One as the pinnacle of motor sport and the perfect stage to demonstrate technical excellence," Renault F1 team president Bernard Rey said in a statement. "We remain committed to the sport.

"However, we cannot be involved in a championship operating with different sets of rules and, if such rules are put into effect, we will be forced to pull out at the end of this season."

 

The FIA refused to be drawn into a public discussion following Ferrari's threat to quit the sport.

 

Renault believes it is paramount that the governance of the sport is co-ordinated with a spirit of consultation with all parties in order to achieve a better balance between the costs and the revenues.

"We have nothing to add to the letter sent to Ferrari on 29 April," said an FIA spokesman, referring to a letter sent to Montezemolo in which FIA president Max Mosley rejected the team's complaints about the budget cap.

 

However, it is thought the teams will discuss the plans with Mosley in London on Friday.

And sure to also be on the agenda is the teams' apparent unhappiness at what they see as the FIA's failure to discuss the rule changes with all the teams.

 

The Renault statement continued: "There is frustration FOTA's (Formula One Teams' Association) constructive proposals, including major cost-saving measures to be adopted progressively between 2009 and 2012, which were carefully constructed by FOTA members, have been completely ignored without any form of consultation by the FIA with the teams.

"It should be stressed that FOTA has set the same, if not lower, financial objective as the FIA but Renault strongly believes that this must be introduced through a different procedure agreed by all parties.

"Renault also believes it is paramount that the governance of the sport is co-ordinated with a spirit of consultation with all parties in order to achieve a better balance between the costs and the revenues.

"Renault is also of the firm view that all entrants in the world championship must adhere to and operate under the same regulations."

 

BBC F1 correspondent David Croft reports that Renault's announcement underlines the unhappiness felt by the teams surrounding the proposal.

"Whilst not on the scale of the Ferrari announcement yesterday, this is another indication of just how deep the dissatisfaction runs currently within the F1 teams - not just of the proposals but the way they've been introduced," he said.

 

"The entries for next season open on 22 May and lasts for seven days - as it stands, Renault, Ferrari, Red Bull and Toyota could all be missing when the season begins next March."

F1 battle lines are drawn

BBC Blog

Andrew Benson | 11:42 UK time, Wednesday, 13 May 2009

Ferrari's threat to quit Formula 1 over plans for a budget cap and two-tier championship in 2010 will appear to shocking to many - that, after all, is the idea. To those more familiar with the sport's intricate politics, though, the biggest surprise may well be that it took them so long to say it.

 

F1's history is littered with examples of Ferrari threatening to pull out if they did not get their way over some rules row or other. In the late '80s, in one of the most notorious, they went as far as building their own IndyCar to underline their point. Yet they remain the only team to have competed every year since the start of the F1 world championship in 1950.

 

That is why few people within F1 will think there is any realistic chance Ferrari will not be on the grid next year.

That is not to say, however, that Ferrari's threat is not serious, nor that this is not a serious situation. In both cases, it is.

The new rules proposed for 2010 have got everyone in F1 exercised - and every single team opposes at least one of the two main changes.

 

Max Mosley, the FIA president, has forced through regulations that i) introduce a voluntary £40m budget cap; and ii) give greater technical freedom to those teams who choose to operate within it.

 

The rules are framed - deliberately - to give a significant performance advantage to those teams who do choose to accept the FIA limits, with initial estimates suggesting said advantage is up to three seconds a lap.

 

Ferrari - along with other major teams such as McLaren-Mercedes, Toyota and BMW - accept the need for costs to come down. They have already reduced their spending significantly, and are working on other proposals to ensure they continue to do so.

But they are not ready to meet Mosley at his £40m mark - even though driver salaries and marketing are not included in that cap.

They do not want to make hundreds of employees redundant; they do not think it is any of the FIA's business to tell a major corporation how to spend its money; and they do not want the FIA poking around in their accounts.

 

What makes this such a delicate situation, though, is that not all the teams are approaching it from the same position.

 

Ferrari want neither the cap nor the two-tier championship. All the other teams are implacably opposed to two sets of rules, but are more malleable - to a greater or lesser extent - on the subject of a cap, although many believe the figure should be higher. And Williams, Brawn and Force India - the teams with the smallest budgets - are all believed to be behind the £40m limit.

 

In theory, this plays into the hands of Mosley and his partner-in-arms, F1 commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone. Their modus operandi for ruling F1 has long been divide and conquer, and on the face of it they have the teams where they want them.

 

If the teams are not united, one might think, how can they hope to win a stand-off?

Mosley's argument is that the budget cap is the only way F1 can survive the credit crunch relatively unscathed. He believes several of the major car manufacturers are poised to quit the sport at the end of the year - with Toyota, BMW and Renault the hottest candidates - and he says F1 is out of reach to new teams if it does not become more affordable to run a competitive car.

 

The FIA accepts the two-tier championship is an imperfect solution, but says it is a necessary, temporary evil while F1 makes itself fit for purpose.

 

But the risk is that, by pressing ahead with his plans, Mosley's claim of potential manufacturer withdrawals becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy - one precipitated by his plans for change, not by the companies themselves.

There is also the wider question of the future direction of F1. In this, the teams - represented by their umbrella organisation Fota - and the FIA have diametrically opposed philosophies.

 

Fota's position was summed up eloquently by my colleague Mark Hughes in Autosport magazine last week:

"Yes, the teams should get a greater share of the revenue, no the sport should not be owned by a venture capital company that squeezes half the sport's profit out of it, no the traditional venues should not be priced out of the championship, no it should not be so stupidly expensive for fans to attend a grand prix, no F1 should never be about spec cars or engines, yes F1 should be represented in North America, no it shouldn't be going to places where no-one wants to come and watch."

 

Usually, the way these things play out is predictable. Mosley comes up with an extreme suggestion that provokes the teams into action. They argue for a bit. Mosley waters down his position a little. The teams grumble a bit but accept it. And everyone goes away until the next political crisis - usually precipitated by another FIA initiative - starts the whole process again.

 

But this time it might be different.

For one thing, the teams have in recent years been getting increasingly aggravated by Mosley's constant changing of the rules. They want stable regulations and a level playing field.

For another, the teams remain determined to keep Fota together in the face of Mosley and Ecclestone's politicking - and if they can manage that then Mosley has to listen.

 

But most significant of all is the position of Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo as chairman of Fota.

 

Until very recently, Ferrari were at loggerheads with the other teams and more often than not in Ecclestone and Mosley's camp on most political battles. But not any more.

Now, Mosley finds Montezemolo on the other side of the battlefield and it is almost certainly not a comfortable feeling for either man.

These two are political heavyweights, neither of whom is used to losing, and it is going to be fascinating to see who comes out on top.

For all his grandstanding, Mosley knows F1 cannot afford to lose Ferrari - not when surveys suggest that a third of all fans at grands prix are there to watch them.

 

So the question is, what is better for F1? A championship without Ferrari - and Toyota - with a grid filled out by privateers such as Prodrive and USGP, run to a formula for essentially standard cars with rules manipulated on the whim of the FIA? Or fewer new teams in a more transparent championship with more stable rules and a parachute down to a more affordable budget over a number of years?

 

There will be a number of meetings over the coming weeks, there is a deadline of 29 May for teams to enter next year's championship, and we can expect many more public utterances from the parties involved.

Eventually, almost certainly, a compromise will be reached, one that keeps Ferrari on board.

 

But things might get bloody before F1 gets there.

 

Ok, so Renault are for smaller budgets they have said so on many occasions, maybe just not the tiny cap.

 

If Renault go, i go.

 

I only watch F1 for Renault.

 

The FIA can't seriously stand and watch half the grid go out the door. BMW, Toyota, Renault, Ferrari and the two Red Bull teams would f*** up the grid. Where exactly would the remaining teams get engines? Merc would be the only engine supplier left as Force India, Brawn and Williams all use customer units.

 

I'd like to see them be pro-cap when they have no engine to power their chassis.

Ok, so Renault are for smaller budgets they have said so on many occasions, maybe just not the tiny cap.

 

If Renault go, i go.

 

I only watch F1 for Renault.

 

The FIA can't seriously stand and watch half the grid go out the door. BMW, Toyota, Renault, Ferrari and the two Red Bull teams would f*** up the grid. Where exactly would the remaining teams get engines? Merc would be the only engine supplier left as Force India, Brawn and Williams all use customer units.

 

I'd like to see them be pro-cap when they have no engine to power their chassis.

 

they are ALL pro-budget cap. No one can afford to spend up to £500m a year on a race team, they simply disagree with the way it's being brought in - in particular the two-tier system which would see all the low budget teams being considerably faster than eveyone else.