Formula One news
Ecclestone firmly backs budget cap
07 May 2009Bernie Ecclestone has continued to give his support towards a £40 million budget cap for Formula One teams from next season, despite a request to governing body the FIA for an instant meeting over the matter, from the Formula One Teams' Association (FOTA). F1 supremo Ecclestone is in favour of the proposed system as it looks to increase interest for new entrants to join the F1 grid.
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"The big teams don't get it because it's not in their DNA to make money in Formula One - all they want to do is spend, spend, spend," commercial rights holder Ecclestone told The Daily Express. "Odd isn't it that, at a time when everyone else in the commercial world is trying to cut costs and save money, we offer them a plan and some are not happy."
Originally suggested by FIA president Max Mosley at a figure of £30m, the bar was raised last week following a meeting of the governing body's World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) in Paris. "We have said it will be £40m and it will be," Ecclestone assured. "I've said that, with the engine outside of that cost, driver salaries and however much they want to spend on motorhomes or marketing, it would be more like £60m. That is there for everyone to see; the people who want in can see that this is a figure at which they can make a profit - and that's what business is all about, isn't it? You don't have to spend this figure, it is only the cap. There are a lot of clever people out there who could maybe do a lot more with less - look at how Brawn have gone this season and their budget is a lot less than quite a few teams who are behind them."
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| Ferrari has opposed the budget cap in a stronger fashion than most thus far |
Ecclestone went on to remind that certain teams are currently spending with figures in the region of £250m annually, and that the time has come for the sport to return to 'invention and imagination'. "It doesn't automatically buy success," Bernie continued, about current spending amounts. "Ferrari didn't win a title for 10 years and spent four times as much as anyone else. How will it look if a board of one of the manufacturers which is losing money turns down the chance to cut costs hugely?"
With USGPE, Prodrive, iSport and Lola all seemingly queuing up for a place in Formula One under the new cost-cutting system, Ecclestone will have the eventual say on which companies fill the additional three places in the pit lane. "It won't be on a first-come, first-served basis," he said, despite being pleased with the interest. "We are not going back to the days when anyone could just arrive, run a few races and then disappear when they ran out of money; we only need three teams to come in. Some of the big players are not happy, but no one has said they are leaving."
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