Mosley plays down Ferrari’s F1 quit threat

FERRARI’s threat to quit Formula One if a standard engine is introduced has been played down by the FIA.

The FIA claims it is up to the teams and not the sport’s governing body to come up with ideas to cut costs in F1.

The FIA claims there are alternative cost-cutting answers and are not alarmed by the threat of both Ferrari and Toyota to leave F1 if standard engines are introduced from 2010.

FIA president Max Mosley had already written to teams stating there were three alternatives — a standard engine, an engine from a single supplier or the supply of customer engines to independent teams at less than €5million per season.

In a statement the FIA said: “The FIA has noted the press statement issued by the Ferrari board of directors.

“It seems the Ferrari board were misinformed. The FIA has offered the teams three options, one of which is the so-called standard engine, and another that the manufacturers should jointly guarantee to supply power trains to the independent teams for less than €5m per season.

“The FIA is delighted by Ferrari’s financial success and hopes this will be maintained. However a number of teams find themselves facing costs which greatly exceed income. This is not sustainable.

“It is now for the manufacturers to agree one of the three FIA options or themselves produce concrete proposals to reduce costs to a sustainable level.

“If neither happens, the FIA will take whatever measures prove necessary to preserve a credible world championship for both drivers and constructors.”

So far, talks between Mosley and the Formula One Teams Association in Geneva came up with a plan to supply customer engines at a cost of €10m per season.