Formula One news
'Ferrari quit threat no surprise' - Jordan
13 May 2009Eddie Jordan finds Ferrari's threat to leave F1 for next season as no surprise, as the chance of a 'two-tier' championship remains on the cards for 2010. The Italian team, reigning constructors' World Champions, made the pledge on Tuesday as a result of the FIA's proposed budget cap scheme coming into action next year, becoming the third team to hint such a possibility.
Jordan, who ran his own F1 team between 1991 and 2004 before selling to Alex Schneider's Midland outfit, admits he half expected the annoucement. "Ferrari have a lot of advantages over other teams," he explained to Setanta. "They've got their own circuit, they've got big wind tunnels, a lot of facilities that many of other teams don't have; they got all of that through being successful over the years, winning things and with big budgets.
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| Ferrari has been part of the Formula One World Championship since its inauguration in 1950 |
"So they're thinking, 'why should we be dragged down to the same level of the minions, because those teams are used to running on these kinds of budgets and will give us a good run for our money as a result? They may even paste us; we may not be successful if we don't run to the existing rules anymore.'
"They are clearly suffering this year already, anyway, because of the restrictions on testing and the restrictions on the other regulations, so any continuance of the tightening of the regulations will only make matters worse for Ferrari. So they must be thinking, 'If we can't resolve this, well, what's the point in staying in because we're not going to win again?'"
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| Felipe Massa did not score his first points of 2009 until the Spanish Grand Prix last Sunday |
Jordan made a return to the F1 paddock at the beginning of 2009, as a pundit for the BBC's television coverage alongside Jake Humphrey and Red Bull retiree David Coulthard. "They're a great institution," Jordan continued of the Scuderia. "If you look at any of the computer games that the kids are playing, you'll always have a red car. I think Ferrari is a very, very good fit to F1 - could it survive without them? Of course it could, but it would be better if Ferrari remained a part of it."
Jordan went on to describe this season's new-look World Championship as a 'changing of the guard', as Brawn GP moves to the top of the constructors' standings with Red Bull and Toyota. "The people that were traditionally at the front, McLaren and Ferrari, don't like it," he said plainly. "Is it going to be like that permanently? I don't think so. It'll all resolve itself in time."
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| Jordan with F1 supremo at the Malaysian Grand Prix |
The Irishman concluded by admitting that F1's ringmaster feels the need to throw a number of variables into the mix from time to time. "I honestly think that if Bernie Ecclestone (head of Formula One Management, commerial rights holder of the sport) doesn't see confusion or any aggravation that he thinks, 'I've got to create some.' Because that's what he believes in and that's what creates the image that the sport has: full of ups and downs - if it's not on the back page he wants to know why it's not on the front page, and vice versa.
"Max Mosley (FIA president) and Bernie Ecclestone are absolutely brilliant at this sort of thing and, whether you like it or not, it does draw people to watch the whole show."
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