Max Mosley intends driving through Formula One budget limits

Max Mosley, the president of the FIA, launched a Formula One revolution yesterday by proposing a stringent budget cap in an attempt to ensure the sport’s survival, but was immediately accused by some of going too far.
While fans of grand-prix racing may have paid more attention to a restructuring of the points-scoring system, which means that the driver who wins most races will become world champion — a practice that would have deprived Lewis Hamilton of the title last season — it is Mosley’s dramatic initiative of a £30 million budget limit that will have the most far-reaching implications.
The cap is voluntary in theory, but Mosley has also slanted a series of new technical regulations to favour heavily teams that opt for it, allowing them complete freedom to design their cars and the use of unrestricted engines. As a result, he and Bernie Ecclestone, the Formula One commercial rights-holder, believe that most of the teams, some of whom were spending more than £200 million a season until last year, will go for the new deal. “What team can afford not to accept the new proposal?” Ecclestone said.
However, the two most powerful men in the world’s richest sport appear to be facing a backlash. Luca di Montezemolo, the president of Ferrari and chairman of the Formula One Teams Association (Fota), said he was disappointed by what he regards as “unilateral” measures by Mosley that “run the risk of turning on its head the very essence of Formula One and the principles that make it one of the most popular and appealing sports”. While Fota claims to speak for all the participants on the grid this season, Di Montezemolo’s criticism did not reflect reaction in some quarters, especially outside of Ferrari and McLaren Mercedes, where inquiries by The Times suggested that the budget cap was being cautiously welcomed. If Mosley and Ecclestone were hoping to use this initiative to help to split Fota, they may have made some headway.
Mosley’s new world order reflects his conviction that the global recession, which has affected the car industry more than most, represents a serious threat to Formula One’s survival. He said that an initiative by the teams to cut costs by 50 per cent last December was a step in the right direction, but subsequent events had shown that it was not enough.
“The world economic crisis has worsened very significantly since then,” Mosley said. “No one can say the situation will not deteriorate further in the coming months. If this happens, we may lose other manufacturers or even independent teams, despite their best intentions. If we wait, and things get worse, it will be too late.”
He was confident that the limit of £30 million, which is likely to lead to huge job losses, was realistic. “It has been carefully costed,” he said. “The cars will be much less refined in detail, because teams will not be able to spend huge sums on minute advantages — for example, $1,200 (about £850) on a wheel nut which is only used once — but from the grandstand or on television they won’t look or sound any less ‘Formula One’ than the current, ultra-expensive cars.”
The new budgetary regime is a massive shock to the system in a sport in which even the back markers on the grid are spending almost £150 million a year on staff, design, car- building, logistics, entertainment and public relations.
It is also inevitably going to affect drivers, some of whom — such as Hamilton, McLaren’s British world champion, and Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari — are among the world’s highest-paid sportsmen.
However, Mosley has softened the blow for the stars of the sport by suggesting that they could be paid outside the cap through dividends from shares in the companies they represent.
Source:the times