Ferrari can lump it, says Mosley

Max Mosley is a man with a mission. And the president of the FIA is prepared to face down the all-conquering Ferrari team, if need be, to force through his radical plans for cost-cutting and technical restrictions which he hopes will revitalise formula one.

Mosley is a mild-mannered and soft-spoken individual but on this occasion he is not to be denied. Granted, he would like to carry the support of the top teams, but even if Ferrari, McLaren and Williams balk he knows he can get sufficient votes on the F1 commission to force the changes through for the 2004 season.

The changes drew a wide range of emotions from the team principals on Wednesday.

"I wouldn't say we've got Ferrari's unqualified support by any means because some of these things could be seen as being quite detrimental to them," Mosley said. "Even Ferrari is coming under pressure to reduce costs, but they are now saying: 'We've got all these systems in place and we can't use them.' But whatever you decide as a cut-off point, this sort of problem will always be the case.

"McLaren was absolutely against it and I think Ron [Dennis] went into shock when he realised what we were proposing."

So what does he say to the handful of critics who claim that the problem the FIA is seeking to correct has been largely caused by the governing body's consistent partiality towards Ferrari when it comes to interpreting whether certain electronic systems on their cars are legal or not?

"When Ferrari was losing," he said, "and bearing in mind that they are the best-known brand in formula one, you could imagine people saying that for com mercial reasons [the F1 rights owner] Bernie Ecclestone and possibly the FIA would want to help them win.

"But when it gets to the stage that their top driver is on the podium at every race for more than a season, and where people are switching off the television because of Ferrari, then anybody who believes that we are helping them must be mad, because we would be sawing off the branch we're sitting on.

"We've never been partial to Ferrari. The main basis for that accusation is the famous bargeboard test, where McLaren screwed up their case."

Mosley was referring to the 1999 Malaysian grand prix, when the Ferraris of Eddie Irvine and Michael Schumacher were disqualified from first and second places because of a dimensional infringement on the aerodynamic deflectors.

That gave victory to Mika Hakkinen's McLaren, but Ferrari appealed and were reinstated after an FIA hearing. "If McLaren had pressed the point properly they would have won the case," said Mosley. "Had they asked Ferrari to prove that their deflector was at the correct angle, they couldn't possibly have done it because it had been removed from the car and the car wasn't in the court. But they didn't make that point.

"I can't go in to argue McLaren's case; if they screw up, they screw up. Anyway, it's manifest nonsense [that we have shown partiality] after what has happened over the last two seasons."

Mosley admits that a combination of falling TV ratings and consistently processional racing had forced him to move quickly. "It had become obvious for some time that the balance between man and machine had gone too far towards the machine."

He does accept that he may have to defer the ban on traction control until the start of 2004, if the teams can demonstrate that removing such systems will cost more than retaining them for another year. "I am quite prepared for those systems to run through to the end of this year provided we know, absolutely for sure, that it is then completely banned. Which it is."

Of course, banning electronic systems is one thing, policing the ban is another. It is now nine years since the controversy surrounding Schumacher's 1994 world championship-winning Benetton, which was found to be fitted with launch control, although the FIA had to con clude through lack of compelling evidence that it had not been used.

"If a major manufacturer doesn't like it, too bad," Mosley added. "If a major manufacturer pulls out of the sport because of it, again too bad. What we will gain from these rule changes is far bigger than what we will lose by their absence."

· Michael Schumacher thinks the changes will not have a dramatic impact on races. "I like to make [the car] as fast as possible and the electronics have helped that. That was same for everyone and, if there are changes, it is again the same for everyone."