Mosley Hails New Era for F1 As Deal Reached on Cost-cutting

Formula one's power brokers yesterday had what they claimed to be the most successful meeting in recent memory as they struggled to reach agreement on cost-cutting moves in the wake of the decision last week by Honda to quit formula one.

At a meeting of the FIA, motor sport's governing body, and the Formula One Teams Association, agreement was reached on measures to meet all the cost-reduction objectives put forward by the FIA for 2010. The teams have also made proposals for further significant cost-cutting measures in 2009.

Max Mosley, the FIA president, and Fota emerged from a four-hour session which has been described as "the most successful meeting on formula one matters any of the participants can remember". Agreement has been reached on measures to meet all the objectives proposed by Mosley for 2010 and beyond. This response suggests at least four teams, as demanded by Mosley, have signed up to use a standardized engine, to be produced by Cosworth, for three years from 2010.

Mosley had issued a deadline of today for teams to comply with his proposal. The Japanese manufacturing giant pulled out of formula one last Friday citing the global economic downturn which had led to a dramatic slump in car sales. A final, formal announcement will be made after the World Motor Sport Council meets in Monaco tomorrow.

Mosley said: "I am delighted with the outcome of this meeting." The Fota president, Luca di Montezemolo, added: "The unity of the teams was fundamental to meeting the goals for a new formula one, but with the same DNA, as requested by the FIA."

Earlier in the day, Mosley slated Ferrari for their lukewarm reaction to rule changes designed to make formula one more technically challenging. The head of motor sport expressed surprise that Ferrari had objected to the Kers system, due to be introduced next year, which captures energy generated under braking and transforms it into short bursts of additional power.

"We've finally found a serious engineering challenge for the teams in Kers," Mosley said. "Some manufacturers have risen to this challenge, one manufacturer has produced electric systems which will astonish people when they appear, another team is working on a completely new technology which will also astonish.

"But some leading teams, such as Ferrari, have said that they don't like Kers because it is too complicated. Could you imagine the great formula one engineers like Colin Chapman [the founder of Lotus] or Keith Duckworth [co-founder of Cosworth] saying, 'I can't do that because it is too complicated'? It is a symptom of a disease in formula one where incremental change becomes the whole object of the exercise and real, serious innovation plays no part."

Speaking at a motor sport business forum in Monaco, Mosley also said Honda's withdrawal from formula one may be followed by others. "Honda pulled out because of falling car sales and there is no guarantee that these will not drop further," he said. "If they do then we have to prepare for other manufacturers to pull out not only from F1 but other areas of motor sport as well."

Mosley, who has long contended that the costs of formula one were becoming "unsustainable", has acted quickly to prevent a potential crisis. Other cost-cutting measures that have likely been agreed to include a reduction in testing, along with a limit on wind-tunnel time and aerodynamic development.