According to former FIA president Max Mosley, the Red Bull Racing team may have breached the Resource Restriction Agreement, put in place by the teams as a means of controlling costs in the sport without the need for a budget cap.
Mosley, keen to spread festive cheer in an interview with the German Auto Moto und Sport publication, suggested that it would be 'interesting' to see how the other teams react to the Red Bull team's breach of the agreement.
Mosley alleged that the caffeinated team, which romped to the drivers and constructors titles in the sport last season, likely broke the agreement as they asked for an "exception" to the terms of the cost-saving contract last week.
The RRA was the alternative agreement set up by the teams after they revolted over Mosley's 2009 plans to install a heavily restrictive budget cap on the sport.
But Mosley said that the Red Bull request showed that the RRA was not a useful way of controlling F1's costs.
"The effect of this [resource restriction] agreement is minimal," he barked at the German publication, "Which is the reason the teams agreed to it."
He explained that: "At the last FOTA meeting last Thursday, Red Bull asked for an exception.
"If that's true, that can only mean they spent more than they were allowed, and now they're asking for the [other] teams' okay. I am interested to know how their opponents are going to react," he added.
The former president, who left his post in October 2009 after handing over the FIA presidency to former Ferrari boss Jean Todt, added that the RRA was a useless method of controlling costs and leveling the playing field before the biggest and the smallest teams.
"I'll give an example," Mosley rambled, "The teams are limited to a certain number of employees, let's say 100. If I walk through the paddock with a lot of money, then I get the best 100 people.
"So you still have no chance against the rich teams. The only thing that will work is a budget limit. A bigger budget is like having a bigger engine."
He also saved some choice words for Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo, who has been a vocal critic of the new smaller teams that joined the grid as a result of Mosley's efforts to bring in a budget cap.
"On the one hand he complains that the new teams are too slow, and on the other hand he asks for [more testing] that will widen the gap even more," he chortled.
Of di Montezemolo's alternative idea of allowing teams to run single 'third car' entries for the big F1 teams, Mosley added that: "The third car is complete nonsense, giving the big teams even more power, politically and sporting.
"It's also against the spirit of F1 - it needs different blood. Without new teams, F1 would die.
He added: "The problem with Luca is he has never had to build a team from nothing and doesn't know how hard it is. F1 has a lot of problems but Luca only adds to them."
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
