FORUMula1.com - F1 Forum

[spankyham]

 wrote:">Todt: Formula 1 is too expensive and teams could go out of business

Jun.19 (GMM) FIA president Jean Todt has admitted he is worried Formula 1 teams could face financial ruin and collapse if costs are not reduced, adding his voice to mounting calls for immediate action to reduce costs at the highest level of the sport.

After the FIA’s meeting of its World Motor Sport Council last Friday, a media statement revealed that the governing body is “having active discussions with teams regarding cost control”.

The FIA added that the Council will have to vote on any amendments to the chassis rules for 2013 prior to the end of this month.

“The intention is to help all teams participate in the championship in a fair and equal manner,” the statement added.

Todt is quoted by the German language Speed Week: “For me, formula one is too expensive. If we do nothing, we could get into a situation where we have less than twelve teams on the grid.”

Last week, Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo insisted F1 cannot ignore the impact of Europe’s worsening economic crisis.

“Ferrari is in agreement with the FIA’s position that drastic intervention is required,” he said.

“This is no longer the moment for getting bogged down in sterile discussions or the meanderings of engineers, usually only concerned in defending the interests of someone or other. The question (of costs) has to be tackled at the highest level without further delay,” added Montezemolo.

[spankyham]

Personally I agree with customer cars, but there definitely needs to be controls. They need to ensure a diversity of chassis. Perhaps like engines a limit on the number of customers. I also see upsides in that the quality of cars should be improved and a chance of getting an established North American racing team to venture into F1.

[Jabberwocky]

the problem I see with this is that there is a lot of internals in the car would have to be the same. So unless someone buys a chassis lock stock they are going to struggle fitting radiators etc.

However on the flip side, people like Torro Rosso will be sitting pretty with a year old Redbull. But how would they cope with rule changes?

[andrew]

the problem I see with this is that there is a lot of internals in the car would have to be the same. So unless someone buys a chassis lock stock they are going to struggle fitting radiators etc.

However on the flip side, people like Torro Rosso will be sitting pretty with a year old Redbull. But how would they cope with rule changes?

Year old cars to smaller teams would probably create a 2 tier F1.

[What's Burning?]

A customer car to me is simply a car that is sold to a customer at the beginning of a season that is IDENTICAL to the manufacturer's car. Additionally, there should/would be agreed upon upgrades sold to the customer at certain points along the season to again bring parity to the competitive state of the customer car.

I'd imagine that no one would become a customer uless they felt they could compete and win, otherwise what's the point. It's also pointless to buy a car and then have to spend millions in development of that car over the season or risk falling behind. The expense of production and development through the season is then offset for the manufacturer. Also since a customer wouldn't be able to win WCC they should have either a separate competition of customer points or share a percentage of the WCC prize money for that constructor.

We know that the reason Ferrari is pushing is simply because they see it as it benefiting them the most. Also a drawback of the whole thing, since it's unlikely that no one would buy a car from a mid field constructor, that it wold kill some of the mid field manufacturing efforts as there would be a turning point where it would be cheaper to buy a car than build your own.

We'd be left withe McLaren, Mercedes, Ferrari building cars, maybe Red Bull, and selling them and we'd have only three or four chassis types up and down the grid.

[myownalias]

I have mixed feelings about customer cars; It's good as hopefully it'll bring the midfield and lower ranked teams into the points but at the same time it will kill off innovation in the lower ranks as only the top teams will keep moving forward while the customer teams will probably be a revision or two behind, which ultimately brings us back to where we are now!

[Jabberwocky]

Monza 2008 can show you what a small team with an idea of where the parent team is going wrong can end up.

[What's Burning?]

Monza 2008 can show you what a small team with an idea of where the parent team is going wrong can end up.

Something that will happen about as often as a full solar eclipse?

[Jabberwocky]

I think every team should supply one other team. So who would still produce a chassis

Ferrari
Mclaren
Redbull (I am sure providing Toro Rosso could give a nice cash boost if a money cap is going to happen)

who else?

Williams, they only produce F1 cars and KERS
Sauber, Ferrari B team maybe?
Mercedes, design there own I would imagine
Lotus, supposedly sell tech knowledge to partners so would make there own
Force India, Mclaren B team?

Then there is the new guys
Caterham, do they learn anything that goes into the road cars?
HRT, and Marussia might be able to afford a soap box derby car

[LewEngBridewell]

I just wish the costs of competing weren't so high in the first place. Ahhhh, dream on Lew....

[spankyham]

I just wish the costs of competing weren't so high in the first place. Ahhhh, dream on Lew....

The costs aren't the problem, it's having the funds to pay the costs ....

[Jabberwocky]

Didn't Martin Brundle say a few races ago that it cost over £1000 a lap to run and F1 in consumables only?

[darwin dali]

Didn't Martin Brundle say a few races ago that it cost over £1000 a lap to run and F1 in consumables only?

Add a few bucks for ice cream and booze if Kimi is driving...

[andrew]

I just wish the costs of competing weren't so high in the first place. Ahhhh, dream on Lew....

The costs aren't the problem, it's having the funds to pay the costs ....

You're putting the horse before the cart with that thinking. If the costs weren't so high then funds would be less of a problem. It's kind of a visous circle kind of thing.

Cutting drivers salaries would be a good money saver.

[Hammer278]

I just wish the costs of competing weren't so high in the first place. Ahhhh, dream on Lew....

The costs aren't the problem, it's having the funds to pay the costs ....

You're putting the hrse before the cart with that thinking.

If the costs weren't so high then funds would be less of a problem.

The costs are the costs. What he's getting at is the state of Europe and the economy as a whole right now.

I don't think costs are spiralling out of control, it is the normal uptrend/inflation...although spending power has crashed due to the current economy. So horse is indeed behind cart.