New F1 cost-reduction measures announced

[styla21]

Further details of the cost-cutting plans agreed at the meeting between the FIA and the Formula One Teams’ Association have emerged, with money spent on engines one of the key initial areas for reduction.

The governing body and FOTA met for crunch talks in Geneva on Tuesday, with a brief joint statement issued following the discussions announcing that “significant” cost cuts had been agreed for 2009 and 2010 while teams would urgently work on further proposals for 2010 onwards.

And while none of the agreements have yet been officially made public, autosport.com reports that four key points were agreed at the meeting.

- Firstly it reports that engines will now be required to run for one more grand prix weekend than is currently the case, with the units now set to complete three rather than two races.

- Customer engines will also have to be made available to independent teams at a capped price of 10 million euros for 25 units.

- In addition, a further meeting of the FOTA representatives, which compromises all 10 Formula 1 teams, will be held in Brazil next week to discuss new testing mileage limits for 2009 and to reach an agreement in principal on introducing standard Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems for 2010 or 2011.

A further meeting between the FIA and FOTA will then be held after the end of the season to discuss how to reduce chassis costs and the continued use of customer cars.
Tuesday’s meeting between FIA president Max Mosley and FOTA chairman Luca di Montezemolo (Ferrari) and vice chairman John Howett (Toyota) had been called to discuss how “urgent” cost-cutting measures in F1 could be implemented in wake of the global financial crisis.

A spokesman for the governing body told itv.com/f1 that he could not comment on the details of the meeting, but did say the discussions had been “very positive”.
"It was a very constructive meeting," he added.
"We welcomed the teams' proposals and we look forward to taking the discussion forward."