Ferrari, FIA contest F1 cap

Max Mosley has suggested that losing Ferrari would not be a fatal blow to Formula 1, after the Italian team's president Luca di Montezemolo attacked the budget cap plans announced earlier this week.In a letter to the FIA seen by itv.com/f1, di Montezemolo said the budget cap would be impossible to police, and that the two-tier system - with the possibility for teams to exceed the cap provided they signed up to more restrictive regulations - will be unfair and confusing for fans.
"I have always been concerned about its introduction, mainly because I consider that there are serious technical difficulties in making sure that any cap can realistically be monitored," di Montezemolo wrote.
"There are doubts as to whether or not two categories of teams should be created which will inevitably mean that one category will have an advantage over the other and that the championship will be fundamentally unfair and perhaps even biased."In any event this would create confusion in the public’s mind, which would seriously lower the value of Formula 1.”
But Mosley said that the rules would not be changed at Ferrari's behest, and that although it would be sad to lose the legendary squad, F1 could live without it.
“The sport could survive without Ferrari,” Mosley told the Financial Times.“It would be very, very sad to lose Ferrari."It is the Italian national team.”
The FIA president reckons the Ferrari board will be in favour of the budget cap even if the racing team is unhappy."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,’ then the board will say, ‘Why can’t you spend £40m if the other teams can do it?’” said Mosley, who believes most manufacturers will ultimately favour the cap.
"We’ve got very little room to negotiate, but the message I’m getting from the board of two or three of the manufacturers is: ‘If you can get it so that the cheque we write is not more than €25m (£22.3m), you can consider this a pretty permanent arrangement.’
“We have contacts with the boards other than through the teams."The teams spin to the board."The chief executive hasn’t got the time, knowledge or expertise to question it."But now, because they are all [short of money], to throw away tens of millions on F1 is not acceptable.”