Former FIA president Max Mosley has somewhat improbably warned that it was "quite possible" that the Formula One grid could lose "two or three teams" before the start of the new 2011 season over budget issues.
Mosley pushed for massive cost cuts in the sport during the final few years of his presidency, eventually culminating in his ultimately unsuccessful effort to install a budget cap on the sport.And he insisted that despite leaving the sport in October 2009, he still feels that the large budgets required to compete in Formula One these days will prove difficult for a number of teams to raise, leading to a "crisis" in the sport.
He suggested that as many as three teams could struggle to make the grid next season.
"There is the risk of a crisis in the short term," he bellowed in an interview with the German newspaper Welt, "Currently, a great season is being celebrated but the future looks bleak."
He went on: "For 2011 you need $100 million, with 30 or 40 from Bernie Ecclestone, perhaps 20 to 25 from sponsors or the drivers. I'd say six teams are wondering where the rest is coming from.
"It's quite possible we'll lose two or three teams."
Mosley said that the issue would need to be fixed in the short term, suggesting to the newspaper that a budget cap for 2012 and 2013 would help force teams to tighten their belts immediately.
Earlier this week, Bernie Ecclestone blamed the former president for the problems that F1's three new teams have suffered in their first seasons, saying that Mosley had attracted the teams with ultimately inaccurate budget cap promises.
But Mosley insisted that the teams simply needed time to become competitive on the grid.
"They need to be given time to improve," he muttered when asked about the weak performance of Lotus, Virgin and HRT in the 2010 season.
He added: "Virgin's development has been downright revolutionary. Their car was built entirely without a wind tunnel and that's a warning for the likes of McLaren because their wind tunnels are like running a small town.
"On the other hand Virgin developed a car only with computer simulation and it's only two or three seconds slower. No one can argue that the huge cost of the wind tunnels is justified."
He went on to say that it wasn't just the small teams struggling on the current grid, adding: "In January 2008 I warned that without cost reduction it won't be only the small teams having problems.
"It has arrived: Honda, BMW, Toyota and Renault have gone because the budgets are out of proportion. This continues to be true and it worries me."
Mosley also pointed out that the ever-increasing F1 calendar was becoming "too much" for many fans, with 20 races on the schedule for 2011 and deals for races in the United States, Rome and Russia already reportedly done.
But the former president suggested that the calendar was now at the point where F1's TV ratings could begin to suffer, as casual fans find it harder to keep up with the sport.
"For me personally, it's too much," Mosley grouched regarding the 20-race schedule, "In my opinion that's too many Sunday afternoons to expect people to dedicate to Formula One. At some point, it starts to become tiresome.
"And then if you start skipping a race here and there it can quickly become a habit and it can snowball in terms of the TV ratings."
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