In one of the boldest ever statements by the FIA, Max Mosley has said that loosing Ferrari from F1 would not be a major blow to the sport.

The statement comes after Ferrari President, Luca di Montezemolo attacked the budget cap plans that were announced on Thursday of this week.

A letter to the sports governing body from the Italian Team's president was seen by ITVF1 from the Italian Team's president insisted that the budget cap would be impossible to police and would create a "two-tier" system that would destroy the sport for millions of fans.

"I have always been concerned about its introduction, mainly because I consider that there are serious technical difficulties in making sure that any cap can realistically be monitored," di Montezemolo wrote.

"There are doubts as to whether or not two categories of teams should be created which will inevitably mean that one category will have an advantage over the other and that the championship will be fundamentally unfair and perhaps even biased.  In any event this would create confusion in the public’s mind, which would seriously lower the value of Formula 1."

However, in a move that could prove controversial, FIA boss, Mosley, said that the cap will not be lifted just to suit Ferrari and although it would be sad to lose the Italian team, their departure from the sport would not be detrimental to F1.

"The sport could survive without Ferrari," Mosley told the Financial Times. "It would be very, very sad to lose Ferrari - It is the Italian national team."

Mosley did however feel that even if the F1 side of Ferrari wasn't in favor of the cap that the board, at least, would see the FIA's reasoning.

"I hope and think that when a team goes to its board and says, ‘I want to go to war with the FIA, because I want to be able to spend £100m more than the FIA want me to spend,’ then the board will say, ‘Why can’t you spend £40m if the other teams can do it?’” said Mosley, who believes most manufacturers will ultimately favour the cap.

"We’ve got very little room to negotiate, but the message I’m getting from the board of two or three of the manufacturers is: ‘If you can get it so that the cheque we write is not more than €25m (£22.3m), you can consider this a pretty permanent arrangement.’

“We have contacts with the boards other than through the teams - The teams spin to the board."

"The chief executive hasn’t got the time, knowledge or expertise to question it.  But now, because they are all [short of money], to throw away tens of millions on F1 is not acceptable."

Adam Poole
Photo Courtesy of Ferrari.com