25/10/2004
NEWS STORY
FIA president Max Mosley has warned that much more must be done with regards cutting costs in F1, if the sport is to survive.
Mr Mosley gave his warning in the wake of an initiative signed by nine of the current F1 teams, in which the teams gave their proposals for cost cutting.
In all reality, the initiative, contained little 'meat', and merely suggested a drastic cut back in testing, and the possibility of using one make of tyre - thus ending the tyre war, which has caused the need for more testing, and thereby increasing spending - even though neither Michelin or Bridgestone was consulted.
Furthermore, the initiative only came after the FIA had introduced its own proposals, which followed months of lobbying the teams to come up with their own suggestions.
"That they are thinking along those lines is a step forward," Mosley told The Times, referring to the initiative. "The point is that we now need to do much more.
"I have been trying to get teams to talk seriously about reducing costs for the past three years," he continued. "It is a bit too late to implement these measures for next year, but we could for 2006. We are in a situation where teams need 1,000 people to put two cars on the grid and that level of spending is unsustainable."