Mosley Will Tell Teams to Cut Costs and Save Formula One
FIA president Max Mosley stated that formula one costs are unsustainable and will meet team principals to arrange cuts
Max Mosley will today seek to inject a dose of commercial reality into what he regards as the unnecessarily profligate formula one business when he meets the team principals in Geneva. He hopes to hammer out a package of cost-cutting measures to save the sport's long-term future.
The FIA president believes that formula one costs are unsustainable in the long term and that the sport can no longer shy away from making significant savings. Only by doing so, he feels, can the sport's credibility be maintained and the spectre of poorer teams being priced out of the business dispelled.
"The FIA believes that formula one costs are unsustainable," he wrote last week in a letter to the team principals. "Even before current global financial problems, teams were spending far more than their incomes, insofar as these consist of sponsorship plus FOM money [the commercial-rights income from the sport, controlled by Bernie Ecclestone's Formula One Management organization].
"As a result, the independ-ent teams are now dependent on the goodwill of rich individuals while the manufacturers' teams depend on massive hand-outs from their parent companies."
Mosley's view is that unless the teams can be kept in business by their share of the $1bn annual commercial-rights income, which includes television revenue and appearance money, the sport's future will be precarious. Relying on the largesse of billionaires such as the Red Bull energy-drink founder, Dietrich Mateschitz, who controls Red Bull Racing and its sister team Scuderia Toro Rosso, and Vijay Mallya, who owns the Force India squad, does not represent a long-term solution.
"There is now a real danger that in some cases these subsidies will cease," he said. "This could result in a reduction in the number of competitors, adding to the two team vacancies we already have and reducing the grid to an unacceptable level. The FIA's view is that formula one can only be healthy if a team can race competitively for a budget at, or very close to, what it gets from FOM."
Current rules provide for up to 26 cars on the grid in the form of 13 two-car teams. At present there are only 11 teams, after Super Aguri went bankrupt this year.
The FIA president believes that formula one costs are unsustainable in the long term and that the sport can no longer shy away from making significant savings. Only by doing so, he feels, can the sport's credibility be maintained and the spectre of poorer teams being priced out of the business dispelled.
"The FIA believes that formula one costs are unsustainable," he wrote last week in a letter to the team principals. "Even before current global financial problems, teams were spending far more than their incomes, insofar as these consist of sponsorship plus FOM money [the commercial-rights income from the sport, controlled by Bernie Ecclestone's Formula One Management organization].
"As a result, the independ-ent teams are now dependent on the goodwill of rich individuals while the manufacturers' teams depend on massive hand-outs from their parent companies."
Mosley's view is that unless the teams can be kept in business by their share of the $1bn annual commercial-rights income, which includes television revenue and appearance money, the sport's future will be precarious. Relying on the largesse of billionaires such as the Red Bull energy-drink founder, Dietrich Mateschitz, who controls Red Bull Racing and its sister team Scuderia Toro Rosso, and Vijay Mallya, who owns the Force India squad, does not represent a long-term solution.
"There is now a real danger that in some cases these subsidies will cease," he said. "This could result in a reduction in the number of competitors, adding to the two team vacancies we already have and reducing the grid to an unacceptable level. The FIA's view is that formula one can only be healthy if a team can race competitively for a budget at, or very close to, what it gets from FOM."
Current rules provide for up to 26 cars on the grid in the form of 13 two-car teams. At present there are only 11 teams, after Super Aguri went bankrupt this year.
Use the feedback form below to submit your comments.
Use the form below to email this article to your friends.
- Mosley Warns Formula One That It Must Cut Costs to Survive
- Mosley's Patrician Gloss Deflects Credibility Question
- Mosley Hints at Motor Sport Conspiracy to Bring Him Down
- Mosley Says He Will Resign As President of Fia Next Year
- Stewart Says Mosley Should Still Resign Despite Court Victory
- An Exercise in Damage Limitation
- Max Mosley Wins £60,000 in News of the World Privacy Case
- A Private Function
- Mosley's Victory Comes at a Price
- New Setback for Mosley As Ferrari Chief Urges Him to Stand Down
- Mosley and Ecclestone Remain Powerful Allies Despite 'rift'
- Poll Shows Clubs Divided on Vote to Ditch Mosley
- Russia Calls for Mosley to Quit
- Mosley Faces New Call for Resignation
- Mosley's Stroll in the Paddock Overshadows Hamilton's Pace
- Mosley Returns to F1 Scene in Monaco
- MI5 Man Quits Over Wife's Mosley Link
- Mosley Wants More Time at the Wheel
- Mosley Stripped of Official Duties in Monaco
- Mosley May Be Teetering on the Brink But He Has a Safety Net