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RACECAR BUSINESS


Team bosses believe Formula 1 can weather financial storm


F


ormula 1 team bosses believe their organisations will remain financially


healthy and the sport will be able to find backers in its European heartland, despite the continuing problems in the Eurozone. Speaking at the Abu Dhabi


Grand Prix, McLaren boss and FOTA chairman, Martin Whitmarsh, acknowledged that economic conditions were difficult. But he added that he thought F1 teams will survive because they react well in a crisis, and have already proved this during the economic turmoil two years ago. ‘Firstly, it is incredibly tough out there for any team to go out and get the funding to come racing. One thing I would observe, though, is that we had a crisis – or the world had a crisis – at the end of 2008 and the beginning of 2009. We had Honda, Toyota and BMW all exiting right at a critical moment for the world economy. In some


ways, I think it brought the best out of Formula 1. We react well in a crisis.’ Some have suggested that


Formula 1 may now have to look for more backing from outside Europe, but Williams’ boss, Frank Williams, believes there will still be sponsorship to be found in the Eurozone: ‘I believe it [the


car manufacturer’s market as economics: ‘I think that it is not only a matter of Formula 1, but the world is moving, changing, and that Formula 1 as another business company has to, let’s say, adapt or try to anticipate the move in order not to be the last to arrive where there is a new market of potential interest. We


“we had a crisis… It brought the best out of Formula 1”


money] will still come from Europe because the sport is based in Europe, and most people who watch it are from Europe.’ However, Ferrari team


principal, Stefano Domenicali, says his team is actively seeking more backing from areas outside of the Eurozone, although this is as much to do with the


80 www.racecar-engineering.com • January 2012


were one of the first companies that had the opportunity to receive investment from this area [Middle East] and now we are looking also in the other parts of the world, because we as Ferrari have a business that is not only Formula 1 but, above all, is a car manufacturer that is selling cars in different markets.’


Meanwhile, Ross Brawn, team principal at Mercedes, says that Formula 1 could always change the Resource Restriction Agreement (RRA) if money became exceptionally tight: ‘If we need to, that can be tightened even further, if we see that it’s justified. So I think the teams are incredibly resilient and can cut our cloth to suit the climate, and that’s what will happen.’ A FOTA meeting to discuss the RRA, which was scheduled to take place at Abu Dhabi (see Racecar Business V12N12) was cancelled, but as Racecar Engineering went to press it looked likely that it would now take place at the Brazilian Grand Prix. There has been controversy


over the scope of the Resource Restriction Agreement and how it is policed in 2011, and there have been worries that failure to come to an agreement might lead to a rift in FOCA.


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