Mattia Binotto, Ferrari Formula 1 Team Principal, criticized budget caps in the sport and threatened to leave sport if severe capping is imposed.
The Convid-19 pandemic has shooked the world and severely disturbed Formula 1 schedule. Cancellation of multiple grand prix has confined sport revenues.
Binotto suggested against the budget cuts and call them hasty decisions if made. He believes proposed cuts will devalue the sport as the pinnacle of motor sport.
Last year, different teams and FIA reached an agreement to lower the budget for 2021 to $175m. However, cancellation of 9 races pushed FIA to call a meeting and lowered the budget head to $145m for 2021. And report suggested another cut for 2022.
Ferrari is hesitant to play along if the limited budget is changed in 2022.
“The $145m level is already a new and demanding request compared to what was set out last June,” he told the Guardian.
He added: “It cannot be attained without further significant sacrifices, especially in terms of our human resources. If it was to get even lower, we would not want to be put in a position of having to look at other further options for deploying our racing DNA.”
Ferrari is one of the old teams since F1 inception in 1950 and have been competing till date. Ferrari has threatened to leave if the budget in reduced from $145m.
“F1, we have all sorts of teams with different characteristics,” Binotto said. “They operate in different countries, under different legislation and with their own ways of working. Therefore it is not simple and straightforward to make structural changes simply by cutting costs in a linear fashion.
“We are well aware that F1 and indeed the whole world right now is going through a particularly difficult time because of the Covid-19 pandemic. However, this is not the time to react in a hurry as there’s a risk of making decisions on the back of this emergency without clearly evaluating all the consequences.”
Christian Horner, Red Bull F1 team principal, also supported Ferrari stance to not go below $145m cap. Binotto warned that the implications of lowering more could make the sport worse.
