F-1 teams meet to set rescue strategy for the sport

Thursday 05th March, 06:24 AM JST

GENEVA —

Formula One team leaders met Wednesday to finalize their strategy for the sport amid the global financial crisis.

The Formula One Teams Association (FOTA), led by Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo, will hold a news conference Thursday to unveil their plans as the sport faces heavy cost-cutting and difficulties in attracting new sponsors and teams.

FOTA said in a statement that its proposals “are aimed at increasing the stability, sustainability, substance and spectacle of the sport.”

The blueprint—to be unveiled less than four weeks before the new season starts March 29 in Australia—will draw on market research which asked F-1 fans and television audiences in 17 countries what changes they wanted to see.

Teams and fans have been told by the FIA, auto racing’s governing body, that F-1 must cut its spending drastically in order to survive.

FIA president Max Mosley has said he wants teams to limit their budgets to 50 million euros ($64 million), instead of the spiraling annual spending of 224 million euros ($283 million) that saw Japanese car giant Honda drop out in December.

Former Honda team principal Ross Brawn was at Wednesday’s meeting as he seeks to put together a management buyout that would keep the team on the grid under a new name.

Also joining FOTA president Montezemolo at the meeting were team leaders Mario Theissen (BMW Sauber), Ron Dennis and Martin Whitmarsh (McLaren), Flavio Briatore (Renault), Stefano Domenicali (Ferrari), John Howett (Toyota), Franz Tost (Toro Rosso), Christian Horner (Red Bull Racing) and Alex Burns (Williams).

Force India team owner Vijay Mallya is expected to join his colleagues for Thursday’s launch.

They joined together to create FOTA last September to unite in negotiations with the FIA and Bernie Ecclestone, whose Formula One Management controls the lucrative commercial and media rights.

At a meeting in Monaco last December, FIA and the teams agreed to a series of changes which include longer-lasting engines, limits on expensive testing and cheaper, off-the-shelf engines for smaller teams.

Mosley and FIA are preparing further proposals later this month which could take effect in the 2010 season, when a United States-based team is expected to join the circuit.

The U.S. F-1 operation hopes to be based in Charlotte, North Carolina, with American drivers and meet Mosley’s 50 million euro budget target.

Their arrival would inject new capital into F-1, which has seen major sponsors back away since the financial downturn hit.

BMW Sauber lost Swiss bank Credit Suisse while Renault’s title sponsor, ING, will not renew at the end of this season. Troubled British bank RBS will end its deal with Williams after 2010.

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8 Comments

Ultradude at 08:13 AM JST - 5th March

Just end it - incredible waste of resources (no I'm a treehugger by any means..., just seems like a retarded "sport")
cnc at 11:45 AM JST - 5th March

I agree. There's just too many regulations in it to be even called a sport anymore.

Racing street legal cars without any modifications excites me in places ....
wanderlust at 12:14 PM JST - 5th March

Rallying, or touring car racing is much more fun to watch, and at least the cars bear some resemblance to street cars. Many of the modifications and safety features used also filter down to regular users, while F-1 technology is too esoteric.
buddha4brains at 01:06 PM JST - 5th March

Should be called Y-1 (as in Yawn 1).
Richard_the_First at 01:53 PM JST - 5th March

F1 is the tip of the spear, at the leading edge of engineering in the auto industry, which it is part of. It's not merely a sport but an R&D tests bed for the industry as a whole. Long may it continue....
memyselfI at 05:47 PM JST - 5th March

Just End it- F-1 and defintely NASCAR. Such boring& Bland Sport
Brunobear at 07:05 PM JST - 5th March

We get excellent crowds to it in Melbourne for the first race of the year, and they should increase this year with very low cost tickets for kids. The problem with Formula 1 is is it seems to be a big drag on the economy of the cities that hold it. If the operator could do something really clever and find a way of making each Grand Prix host profitable and the prices more affordable, it would be a smart move, in fact cutting edge or world's best practice or something! I went to one once, most of the cars wiped out on the first bend, just in front of me. There was a few big bangs - I reckon it was the start of global warming.
donkusai at 10:20 PM JST - 5th March

...and yet F1 races are considered to have the highest world-wide audience figures of any regular sporting event. As Rich said, manufacturers value it for its R&D value.