Ferrari Wants Cost Reduction, Not Development Freeze in F1

Ferrari's Luca di Montezemolo recently told the media that it's nothing he wants more than reducing the costs of Formula One operations in the future, only this shouldn't be done on the expense of reducing the performance of the F1 cars. Freezing the engine development goes against the very nature of the sport, argued the Ferrari boss, but cost reduction can be achieved in other ways.

Instead of limiting the amount of money one spends on engine development or even the controversial Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS), the International Automobile Federation (FIA) should instead limit the number of employees, of worked hours and so on. That would ensure total freedom for resource use, under a FIA-imposed limit.

Although constantly pushing for a KERS ban in 2010 – and finally getting a FOTA agreement against using such a device next year – Di Montezemolo insisted that he is not at all against using the technology, only not as an independent part of the car. He considers KERS a great innovation for the future of the sport, but only as a integrated part of the power plant, not developed independently.

“We must also think about fuel consumption, C02 emissions and energy recovery. KERS was a good idea, only the execution was bad. I am for a new engine formula starting from 2012, but with KERS as an integrated component of the engine, not a freely selectable add-on,” Di Montezemolo was quoted as saying to Germany's Auto Motor und Sport.

Although using KERS is not banned by the FIA in 2010, the members of the Formula One Teams Association decided to sign a gentleman's agreement in not using the unit throughout the upcoming season. That decision was most likely taken in order to allow the new teams (and old ones) to properly develop a functional unit throughout the course of next season. The technology is likely to be implemented in the series again in 2011.