FIA president Jean Todt has confirmed that teams may sit out three races in 2010 without penalty.
Bernie Ecclestone recently said that teams could skip opening races if necessary – mainly in reference to USF1 and Campos who are both struggling to be ready in time for the start of the F1 2010 season.
Talking to Italian newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport, Todt commented, “At the last World Motor Sport Council meeting, permission for teams to not participate in three rounds of the championship was granted, even if they are not consecutive.”
Jean Todt has also revealed that he has no plans to emulate the long reign of his predecessor Max Mosley – instead, he is planning to stand down at the end of his current term as FIA president. In this time, he is hoping to reduce costs within F1 and he is hoping to achieve this by tweaking regulations rather than imposing a budget cap.
