Stefano Domenicali insists Ferrari remains committed to F1 cost cuts
Stefano Domenicali insists that Ferrari will continue to discuss the future of Formula 1's resource restriction agreement with the other big teams despite withdrawing from FOTA
The long-term future of the RRA remains in question, but the Ferrari team principal insists that the Scuderia remains committed to the idea of restricting costs in F1.
"We have a situation where we need to control the costs and to make sure that it [the RRA] is enforceable and policeable," said Domenicali. "So the first point is to understand what is happening with the RRA now.
"The second point is to discuss with the major teams what the best solution is. This is a priority. So far, we have had a year or maybe two years with a lot of discussion and not a lot of results."
Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo echoed Domenciali's sentiments, insisting that he still believes that there is a future for co-operation between the teams.
However, he hinted that such discussions could happen outside of the framework of FOTA.
"I still believe that there is a possibility for some teams to have a common view of the future," he said.
"Domenicali has a very good personal relationship with Martin Whitmarsh, my successor as FOTA chairman. I have to say that Martin did a very good job.
"I will seek to push as hard as possible to seek and find shared goals with the big teams. I only want to have clear rules and clear interpretations."
Di Montezemolo remains committed to keeping costs down in F1, but re-iterated his objection to a budget cap.
Instead, he is keen for spending to be kept under control by limits on team activities rather than expenditure. This is the basis upon which the RRA has been constructed, although Ferrari has been pushing for modifications to be made in the long-term to tighten the restrictions on activity rather than resources.
"I prefer to have the budget cap indirectly, not through the auditors who control what I spend because it's very easy to cheat," he said. "I will never accept a budget cap. A budget cap is against competition."
Domenicali underlined that Ferrari made the decision to leave FOTA of its own volition without consultation with other teams.
Red Bull withdrew at a similar time to Ferrari, with Sauber quitting shortly afterwards. Despite their decisions, FOTA is continuing to work and Domenciali is hopeful that there could be a change in its approach.
"At the moment, we have to wait and see what the approach of FOTA will be in the future and if some other teams will take the same way of thinking," said Domenicali.
"I want to make it clear that we left FOTA for our own reasons and then some other teams left straight away for reasons that I don't know. For us, there was nothing connected to anyone else because we took our decision without consulting anyone. We are not responsible for what the others are doing."
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