Formula One news

"Half of the F1 teams would quit F1 with standard engines"

17 December 2008

On the occasion of the traditional pre-Christmas meeting with the press in Maranello, Ferrari President Luca di Montezemolo spoke about the recent economic crisis, in which also Formula 1 and the whole automotive sector is involved.

As far as the decisions taken by the FIA a couple of days ago are concerned, the Ferrari president said that with regard to the standard engine: "it was an occasion to leave F1. If the standard engine had passed, at least four or five teams would have abandoned Formula 1. And I mean four or five besides Ferrari. That is all of them."

"The FIA did well and also Max Mosley did a good job to talk about the problem of cost cutting. But he was thinking about 2010, that's in the future. But the effects of the actual crisis will be felt in 2009. Last July we had the first meeting of all the teams here in Maranello, founding the FOTA. There was a great atmosphere of unity. We were able to reach a 50% cost cut on engines as of the next year. According to our plan from 2012 a cost cut of 50 will effect the whole budget."

"Since our first meeting here in Maranello we've done some major steps ahead. As of 2009 we'll save 50% as far as the engines are concerned and as of 2012 we'll save 50% of the whole budget."

Asked about his opinion as far as Ecclestone's and Mosley's roles in this crisis are concerned di Montezemolo said: "Time goes by and in a few years I will retire too. The crisis might accelerate a process of renovation. I've known Ecclestone since '73 and I think he's done a great job. A few years ago we argued. I called him greedy, because of the revenues, which were distributed 70 percent for him and 30 percent for the teams. Now it's 50-50. We'll have to do more though. We'll see. What's certain is that the time to divide and conquer to rule in F1 is over."

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