Statement posted by the FIA
On 11 January 2008, the FIA, FOM and the teams met in Paris. During the meetingFIA President Max Mosley identified the ‘possibility of a worldwide recession whichwould have an effect on the motoring industry’.
Several of the teams present suggested that the fairest and most effective way ofminimising the impact of the recession would be through the introduction of abudget cap. John Howett (Toyota), Ross Brawn (representing Honda), FrankWilliams (Williams), Burkhard Göschel (BMW), Martin Whitmarsh (McLaren), VijayMallya (Force India), Christian Horner (Red Bull) and Bernie Ecclestone (FOM) allspoke favourably about the proposal for a cost cap and encouraged furtherdiscussion on the subject.
Only Jean Todt (Ferrari) disagreed, stating that a cost cap was not achievable forhis team.
The FIA President acknowledged this point but felt that Ferrari should reservejudgement on the applicability of the cost cap until the mechanism had beenagreed. The minutes of the meeting concluded:
‘After further discussion, Max Mosley proposed that Tony Purnellconvene a meeting of the teams’ Finance Directors as soon as possibleto discuss on a figure or figures for costs excluding engine, marketingand drivers for 2009, 2010 and 2011. This was UNANIMOUSLYAGREED. It was also AGREED that Bernie Ecclestone and Max Mosleywould decide on a final figure. It was also AGREED that no pressstatements were made about these plans as they would have severeimplications for employees and also might encourage sponsors to reducetheir sponsorship levels.
‘The next step would be to set up a Working Group to discuss themeasurement of how the money was spent. This would need to be inplace before 30 June 2008 because the rule would need to be introducedas a sporting regulation for 2009. Otherwise other rules would need to bein place for 2009 to cap teams’ budgets.’
The first meeting took place on 31 January 2008 and involved representatives fromevery F1 team on the grid.
On 18 February 2008, the FIA wrote to all the teams to confirm plans to set up aFinancial Working Group to look into costs in detail. The teams and the FIAsubsequently agreed to share the funding for this working group, which led to thedevelopment of cost cap regulations. It is these regulations which have beenincorporated in the rules for 2010.
