Thu, May 14, 2009 page19

• Ferrari threatens boycott over new F1 budget cap

  • AP
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  Ferrari said on Tuesday it won’t enter next season’s Formula One championship unless the sport’s governing body revokes its new budget cap.

  The storied Italian team, which has been involved in all 60 seasons of F1 racing, said the new FIA guidelines were arbitrary and would set a double standard. It said equal rules for everyone are necessary for the sport to continue.

  “The same rules for all teams, stability of regulations, the continuity of ... endeavors to methodically and progressively reduce costs, and governance of Formula One are priorities for the future,” Ferrari said in a statement after a board meeting. “If these indispensable principles are not respected, and if the regulations decided for 2010 will not change, Ferrari does not intend to enter its cars in the next Formula One world championship.”

  

  Formula One Ferrari cars built from 1949 until 2001 are displayed at the Nuerburgring track in Nuerburg, Germany, on July 23, 2003. Ferrari fans gather at the racing circuit every year to take a look at 22 generations of Formula cars. Ferrari said on Tuesday it would pull out of next year’s season unless the FIA backs down on a controversial plan to introduce a budget cap.

  PHOTO: AP

  Ferrari said it hoped fans would understand this “painful choice.”

  FIA president Max Mosley is leading the FIA’s push to curb costs, with a voluntary £40 million (US$60 million) budget cap being made available to teams.

  Teams that don’t adhere to the cap will not receive the same technical freedom, something Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo has called “fundamentally unfair.”

  Ferrari has grown frustrated in recent years with what it sees as the autocratic leadership of Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone and Mosley.

  “The board also expressed its disappointment about the methods adopted by the FIA in taking decisions of such a serious nature and its refusal to effectively reach an understanding with constructors and teams,” the team said. “The rules of governance that have contributed to the development of Formula One over the last 25 years have been disregarded, as have the binding contractual obligations between Ferrari and the FIA itself regarding the stability of the regulations.”

  Ferrari fears the new rules will effectively split F1 into two tiers, those that can live with the cap and enjoy the technical advantages and those that can’t.

  Ferrari is one of F1’s richest teams. In the first quarter of this year, Ferrari reported turnover of 441 million euros (US$600 million) and a trading profit of 54 million euros.

  Mosley has said the sport could survive without the Italian giant, although Formula One drivers have disagreed.

  The Formula One Teams Association has asked for urgent talks with the governing body over the budget cap.

  Ferrari is F1’s most successful team with 15 drivers’ and 16 constructors’ championships. Kimi Raikkonen was the last Ferrari driver to win the title in 2007.
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