Tuesday 12th May 2009
Ferrari have announced that they will withdraw from Formula One if the FIA implements its plan to introduce a budget cap.
In a short statement on the team's website, the sport's most famous team said they will not be on the grid in 2010.
"We confirm our opposition to the new technical regulations adopted by the FIA and do not intend entering our cars in the 2010 F1 Championship," the statement read.
Ferrari are among several teams to have been angered by the FIA's plans to impose a £40million budget cap on teams from next year, and today's move will hugely increase the pressure on FIA president Max Mosley to find a compromise.
Crunch talks were already planned in the next few days with the May 29 deadline for 2010 entries fast approaching.
Prior to the Spanish Grand Prix, Toyota boss John Howett said his team were unlikely to commit by that deadline if the FIA pressed ahead with their plans, but it is Ferrari who have made the move first.
Tuesday's announcement will put to the test Mosley's resolve after he claimed earlier this month that Formula One could live without Ferrari, the sport's most famous, most successful, and longest-tenured team.
Ferrari are the only team to have contested every season of the World Championship since the modern format was introduced in 1950.
But more than that, the tradition of the famous prancing horse has long been synonymous with the sport, and the team are the most popular among F1 fans.
The decision to threaten to pull out of the 2010 championship came at a meeting of the Ferrari board of directors in Maranello.
Ferrari believe the FIA's new regulations would lead to an unacceptable two-tiered F1 Championship, which they consider would be "based on arbitrary technical rules and economic parameters".
"The board consider that if this is the regulatory framework for Formula 1 in the future, then the reasons underlying Ferrari's uninterrupted participation in the World Championship over the last 60 years - the only constructor to have taken part ever since its inception in 1950 - would come to a close," said a report from today's board meeting.
The report went on to criticise the FIA's decision-making process, claiming that teams have not been properly consulted.
The report continued: "The rules of governance that have contributed to the development of Formula 1 over the last 25 years have been disregarded, as have the binding contractual obligations between Ferrari and the FIA itself regarding the stability of the regulations.
"The same rules for all teams, stability of regulations, the continuity of the FOTA's endeavours to methodically and progressively reduce costs, and governance of Formula 1 are the priorities for the future.
"If these indispensable principles are not respected and if the regulations adopted for 2010 will not change, then Ferrari do not intend to enter our cars in the next Formula 1 World Championship."
Source : Planet F1
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