Mosley fears for F1's future

06/12/2010
NEWS STORY

Former FIA president Max Mosley had admitted his fears for Formula One's future citing too many races and spiralling costs.

Talking to the German newspaper Die Welt, Mosley admitted his fear that a 20 race calendar is not sustainable and that the ever increasing number of championship rounds will damage the sport.

"For me personally, it's too much," he said. "In my opinion that is too many Sunday afternoons to expect people to dedicate to Formula One. At some point, it starts to become tiresome. And then if you start skipping a race here and there it can quickly become a habit and it can snowball in terms of the TV ratings."

However, his biggest fear for the sport is its failure to get to grips with the issue of budgets, the Englishman warning that unless action is taken further teams will fall by the wayside.

"In January 2008 I warned that without cost reduction it won't only be the small teams having problems," he said. "It has arrived: Honda, BMW, Toyota and Renault have gone because the budgets are out of proportion.

"This continues to be true and it worries me," he continued. "There is the risk of a crisis in the short term. Currently, a great season is being celebrated but the future looks bleak. For 2011 you need $100 million, with 30 or 40 from Bernie Ecclestone, perhaps 20 to 25 from sponsors or the drivers. I'd say six teams are wondering where the rest is coming from. It's quite possible we'll lose two or three teams."

Bernie Ecclestone recently blamed Mosley for the under performance of the new teams which entered the sport this season, teams the F1 supremo described as "cripples" and an "embarrassment" for the sport. Mosley does not agree.

"They need to be given time to improve," said the Englishman. "Virgin's development has been downright revolutionary. Their car was built entirely without a wind tunnel and that's a warning for the likes of McLaren because their wind tunnels are like running a small town.

"On the other hand Virgin developed a car only with computer simulation and it's only two or three seconds slower. No one can argue that the huge cost of the wind tunnels is justified."

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Published: 06/12/2010
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