Mosley, F1 chairman discuss sport's future amid global crisis

MADRID, Spain -- FIA president Max Mosley and Luca di Montezemolo, who chairs the body that represents Formula One's 10 teams, met Wednesday to start discussions over how the sport will negotiate its future amid the global credit crunch.

Mosley warned at the meeting in Nice, France, that if drastic cost reductions aren't in place within two years then a sport recognized for fast cars, glamorous models and unscrupulous billionaires could be in peril.

"It has become apparent, long before the current difficulties, that Formula One was unsustainable," Mosley said Tuesday. "It really is a very serious situation. If we can't get this done for 2010, we will be in serious difficulty."

Mosley will meet with Di Montezemolo and the Formula One Teams' Association after the Chinese Grand Prix on Oct. 19 with one topic on the agenda: attaining "significant and urgent reduction in costs" via technical modifications aimed at benefiting all teams without affecting performance.

Mosley has been given the green light by FIA's world council to push through the necessary measures should negotiations with the teams falter.

It's a big task -- but if there is one man ready to salvage F1's US$4.7 billion empire, it's Mosley.

The 69-year-old Briton, serving a fourth term leading motor racing's governing body despite a recent sex scandal, is championing budget caps and hybrid technology. He hopes they will keep F1 significant to the average motorist unimpressed by the spectacle of racing at night in Singapore or around the famous street course of Monaco.

"The days when they could just toss out the 100, 200, 300 million euros a year, which is what Formula One costs those big companies, I think they are finished," Mosley said. "We've got various means of making sure they don't spend that money, but it does mean some draconian changes."

Despite the collapse of Super Aguri, F1 team owners splashed out a combined US$1.6 billion in 2008 following the arrival of Indian billionaire Vijay Mallya's Force India team. That's up from US$1.47 billion in 2007, according to a report from industry monitor Formula Money.

Mosley warns more independent teams like Super Aguri could disappear, and so too would the sport's credibility.

Even some of the wealthiest team owners are changing their tune.

"People in Formula One still believe that whatever happens in the economic world, the sport will still carry on. We never learn from our mistakes, we just spend more money," Renault managing director Flavio Briatore told Autospsort magazine.

"What has happened with Super Aguri sends out the clear message that fewer people are interested in investing in an F1 team these days."