Mosley: 'Lack of innovation destroying F1'

Max Mosley feels the desire of Formula One teams for refinement over innovation has played its part in the recent crippling of the sport.

Mosley has been left exasperated by the exorbitant amounts of money spent over the years on components of which spectators are unaware and which have done little to improve the show.

In roundly condemning the teams, the FIA president insisted such improvements were “utterly pointless”.

Mosley’s prime example is of a team that uses 1,000 lightweight wheel nuts per season that are shipped from California and discarded after a single use, at a cost of £800,000 a year.

It is the kind of excess Mosley is determined to curtail in order to keep the sport alive.

“What is wrong with F1 was wrong before any of the current economic problems cropped up, and essentially it is because of the rules,” said Mosley.

“You might well say that the rules are made by the FIA, so it is the FIA’s fault.

“In a sense that is true because the rules in Formula One are ever more restrictive, compressing the work of the engineers into an ever smaller area.

“But we had to do that otherwise the speeds of the cars would have risen to a point where the safety precautions on the circuit, and the cars themselves, would have become inadequate.

“So now these huge teams, with between 700 to 1,000 employees, are constantly searching for tiny incremental gains on their car.

“Success in Formula One today consists of optimising every single tiny detail on the chassis to the absolute, ultimate degree, and that is extremely expensive, but also utterly pointless.

“One example is that the wheels on one of the teams are made so light that they regularly fail when the tyres are put on them.

“But that team, like all the others, is looking for every tiny increment of performance.

“This has created a mentality in Formula One where the engineers are really only comfortable in refinement.

“They don’t really do innovation, and that is destroying Formula One.”

However, Mosley and the nine remaining teams – following the demise of Honda - that make up the Formula One Teams’ Association (FOTA) were yesterday involved in a landmark meeting in Monte Carlo.

Described as “the most successful meeting on Formula One matters any of the participants can remember”, agreement has been reached on measures to meet the objectives originally proposed by Mosley for 2010 and beyond.

It will see the introduction of a standard engine, with four teams ready to sign up, a dramatic reduction in testing and the use of a wind tunnel, and a further curtailment on aerodynamics.

The meeting has also led to FOTA making proposals “relating to very significant cost savings in 2009, while maintaining Formula One at the pinnacle of motor sport and reinforcing its appeal.”

All the proposals will now go before the FIA World Motor Sport Council in Monte Carlo tomorrow where they are expected to be fully endorsed.

A naturally ebullient Mosley said: “I am delighted with the outcome of this meeting.”

FOTA president Luca di Montezemolo added: “The unity of the teams was fundamental to meeting the goals for a new Formula One, but with the same DNA, as requested by the FIA.”