Briatore urges teams to cut costs

Briatore has long campaigned for a dramatic reduction in the amount of money it takes to compete in Grand Prix racing, but now believes it is vital team bosses stop talking and start taking action to secure the sport's future.

"The big issue for the costs is the technical side of the sport," said Briatore. "There is potential for a drastic reduction of costs on the engine side, and in other areas like testing. But what people don't seem to realise is that time is running out.

"We talk, and talk, but the 2008 rules are already done. They can only be changed with unanimous agreement, and people don't seem to realise that. We have one month to sort out the technical situation."

Briatore believes that there needs to be a radical rethink about the future direction of the sport - and is adamant that money would be better off being spent on improving the show than in making cars faster.

"I look at the race weekends. We have Formula One and GP2, both putting on a fantastic show. From the fastest guy in GP2 to the slowest in Formula One, you have maybe seven or eight seconds per lap. But one team is spending $2 million, the other half a billion. There's something not right there, don't you think?

"We need to look at Formula One in a different way. We have to take care of the event, respect the public, and give them the product they want - not just what the engineers think we should have."

With teams currently involved in talks aimed at framing the 2008 rules, Briatore thinks that too much focus is being put into ensuring F1 remains a technological showground.

Although he believes that technology does have an important part to play in the sport, he claims it should not be at the expense of other ingredients.

"Even with lower costs, we will still have the high level of technology. But what do you think gets more interest: developing a twin clutch that you then hide away from the people, or having Sylvester Stallone on the grid in front of the TV cameras?

"We need to entertain people, and understand that Formula One is an event. With the manufacturers, we are there to build their image and help their communications. We want to discover new markets, and to be ambassadors to help sell a product.

"I think Formula One needs to start to look at the big picture, not just worrying about technology."

He added: " If somebody should complain about cutting technology, it is Renault. We are winning, which means we have winning technology. So why throw away our advantage?

"All these other people are talking about technology, but some have never won a race, others have not won a championship for years.

"The fact is that the teams who have dominated in Formula One in the past six years, are in agreement. Renault is in line with Ferrari, on wanting the same show for less cost. It is a simple vision: to make Formula One a centre of profit, not a centre of loss."