German Car Zone

Saturday, May 2nd 2009, 09:56 GMT
By Edd Straw

FIA president Max Mosley has insisted that Formula 1 could live without Ferrari in response to Luca di Montezemolo's criticism of the budget cap regulations.

The Ferrari chairman hit out at the introduction of the budget cap in a letter to the FIA revealed by AUTOSPORT yesterday.

In the letter di Montezemolo said the budget cap could undermine the credibility of the sport and be difficult to implement. He suggested that "all aspects of the new regulations should be carefully reviewed."

But Mosley insists that the £40 million budget cap is vital for the health of F1, saying that if Ferrari was to be lost to F1 it would simply be "sad". He added that he expects it to be difficult for the team to justify its opposition to the budget cap to the Ferrari board given the amount of money it could save.

"The sport could survive without Ferrari," Mosley told the Financial Times. "It would be very sad to lose Ferrari. It is the Italian national team.

"I hope and think that when a team goes to its board and says, 'I want to go to war with the FIA, because I want to be able to spend £100m more than the FIA want me to spend,' the board will say, 'Why can't you spend £40m if the other teams can do it?'"

Mosley emphasised that the FIA would not back away from the budget cap and that it is vital for the financial health of F1 in both the long and short term.

Full news article: autosport.com - F1 News: Mosley: F1 could survive without Ferrari

yes it can..

No it can't.

Without Ferrari, Macca would be the only big boy and it's never good.

Even with the budget cap (removing the big advantage of Macca, its enormous budget), it would need time for others to catch up and it would render the show uninteresting for at least a pair of years.

And without all the Tifosi, F1 simply wouldn't be like it was.

I think the FIA should act very carefully by now. Daimler threatened to retire and its Board seems less interested by the F1 in those times orf crisis; if now Ferrari too is reconsidereing the question...

The FIA is loosing the edge, it's now the big teams who are threatening to leave, it was the other way around few months ago.

The teams already tried to build their own championship in the past, so the FIA better beware...

The crazy two should really retire now.

It can but will be super dull and boring.

Don't think either will survive without each other.

Sure, F1 can live without Ferrari. Just like a person can live without a leg.

I have a better and more realistic statement to make:

Siko: F1 could survive without Max Mosley


... or better yet

Siko: F1 would be better off without Max Mosley

Agree with you wholeheartedly Siko.

Max and Bernie are both greedy pigs and should let F1 be just like the old times.