Ferrari 'to quit' over budget row

[bodgit]

Ferrari have announced they will quit Formula 1 at the end of the season if the sport continues with plans to adopt a £40m budget cap from 2010. "No F1 in 2010 if the rules do not change," read 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.
Well they threatened to. Now it looks like they are pushing their luck hoping the FIA give in to them

Toyota already announced on 10 may
Toyota say they will not enter Formula 1 next year unless new rules published by the governing body are changed. The FIA recently unveiled plans to encourage teams to operate within a £40m budget cap from 2010.
Toyota F1 boss John Howett said: "If nothing changes, we won't be submitting an entry. I don't think that's a unique opinion among other competitors."

[sosidge]

Good on them.

The FIA mess around with the rules too much, and in a way that is not in the interest of the sport as a true contest. It's about time the teams called their bluff on it. Hopefully this will give BMW, Toyota and others the incentive to threaten to quit too.

[rcmadd]

F1 IS SUPPOSED TO BE THE CREAM OF RACING YET THE FIA WANT TO CAP WHAT THE TEAMS SPEND

COME-ON FIA OPEN YOUR EYES AND LEAVE THINGS ALONE

[Southwell]

They are trying to make it easier for smaller budget teams to compete in F1, whats the point of just watching the biggest budget teams beating everyone else every week? Well except Honda
40m is too little though, maybe 80 mill is more realistic.

[bodgit]

Well if ferrari do go can anyone else see Massa replacing Rubens. Massa is too big a talent to lose to F1

[DCM]

I actually agree in principle, with what the FIA are doing, although I think the $40m budget cap, is a shock tactic, which Mosley uses, then he will negotiate better terms, and come to an 'agreement'.

Although, I think the sport is bigger than one team, and to be honest, this year has been great, no Ferrari or McClaren dominance, and the smaller teams winning, if the budget is capped, then I think it will level things out a lot more.

[Nick Goodall]

Originally Posted by Southwell

They are trying to make it easier for smaller budget teams to compete in F1, whats the point of just watching the biggest budget teams beating everyone else every week? Well except Honda
40m is too little though, maybe 80 mill is more realistic.

There's plenty of other smaller less expensive forms of Motorsport these teams could go into though.

I always thought of F1 as being the pinnacle of motorsport throughout the world and a chance for the top manufacturers to show what they can really do.

You will always get one or two teams being quicker then everyone (Just like Red Bull and Brawn now) so i don't think that's the issue.

Imagine if Audi/Vw/Porsche, Ford were to enter a team to compete with BMW, Ferrari, Mercedes/Mclaren, - it could be awesome.

I think the FIA have finally come extremely close to fecking up F1 for good.

No matter what people think of them, F1 without Ferrari would be like MotoGP without Honda - it just wouldn't be right.

[DCM]

but can one team force a rule that will make it superior to the others, due to deep pockets.

Also, the budget cap may well induce other 'manufacturers' to the grid, as Ecclestone already don't like the 'Brawn' team, as he can't use it to pull in revenue, as it isn't a 'brand name'.

F1 has gone beyond a pinaccle and is a show case.

[Lee]

Originally Posted by Nick Goodall

No matter what people think of them, F1 without Ferrari would be like MotoGP without Honda - it just wouldn't be right.

So true, love them or hate them Ferrari are the first team you think of when you think F1.

I think the cap will be nearer 100m, Max is saying 40m now so that when he agrees to 80/100m the teams will feel like they have got a great deal, he does the same with his hoes too, he starts off with one and then agrees to all 3, everyones a winner

[Southwell]

IMO the problem with everything isn't the budgets (although it makes it harder for teams to compete) it's whenever some close racing happens teams seem to get penalised and whilst i like to watch F1 I will always prefere Moto GP/Super bikes because of the close, no quarter given racing.

[Southwell]

Originally Posted by Lee

he does the same with his hoes too, he starts off with one and then agrees to all 3, everyones a winner

[Al3xis007]

Here's something official:
'Those who comply will gain greater technical freedom and unlimited out-of-season testing.
Expenditure such as driver salaries, engine costs (for 2010 only), fines, penalties and marketing and hospitality will not come under the £40m budget.
There are no fixed penalties for teams who exceed the £40m budget cap but the costs commission will judge the degree of the misdemeanour and advise the FIA, who will determine any penalty.'

So if you are red bull you can double-team the FIA by over budgetting torro rosso massively then keeping red bull within the 40m!!!!!!!!!!

[MattW]

You could, but then Red Bull have already said that they wouldn't enter either team if things stay as they are. So that's 4 teams that are currently saying they won't enter...........

[bodgit]

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 has adopted a similar stance.
"If the decisions announced by the FIA are not revised, we have no choice but to withdraw from the world championship at the end of 2009," he said.

Sounds like Call my bluff

[millzy]

Renualt have now said the same

[telboy]

I doubt, they actually will quit. Its worth too much to them.

But if they do, so what, theres 6 teams all waiting for a slot on next years grid.

And at the end of the day, if they want new teams in F1 then they have to make it so that they can compete.

[Spoolio]

Originally Posted by telboy

I doubt, they actually will quit. Its worth too much to them.

But if they do, so what, theres 6 teams all waiting for a slot on next years grid.

And at the end of the day, if they want new teams in F1 then they have to make it so that they can compete.

Totally agree. If the sport doesn't attract at least some new teams eventually I think people will get bored of the same teams dominating the grid. However, I do think they could have phased it in over 2 or 3 years though so I have some sympathy with Briatore saying "We want to achieve this in a co-ordinated manner with the regulatory and commercial bodies". On t'other hand his next sentence "...and we refuse to accept unilateral governance handed out by the FIA." is a bit weird given that the FIA are the governing body. It all sounds a bit like dummy chucking to me ie, if I can't play by my rules I'm taking my ball home.

If it is one big game of Call My Bluff will Frank Muir be driving the No2 Ferrari next year (he probably has more motivation than Kimi even though he's been dead for umpteen years!)