FIA Warn of F1 Collapse

After releasing their plans for a radically different Formula One from the start of 2008, the FIA have indicated that such urgent change is needed because the growth of manufacturer involvement has led costs to spiral out of control - threatening the sport's long-term health.

In a document outlining the FIA's proposals for new rules, which includes the introduction of standard parts and more emphasis being put on driver skill, the governing body have made it clear that leading teams' resistance to cost cuts must end.

"There has been a tendency for well-funded teams to resist cost-cutting, because the higher the costs, the smaller the number of teams which are their potential competitors," said the statement.

"But rules which allow too steep a slope on the curve of performance versus expenditure must eventually result in the richest team dominating and the remainder unable to compete. This has happened in the distant past.

"If it were allowed to happen today, Formula One would quickly lose its international television audience. Collapse would soon follow. Even the best funded teams should support drastic cost-cutting in order to preserve Formula One in the medium and longer term."

The FIA hopes that their planned new rules will cut the costs of competing by a massive 90 percent without detracting from the sport's spectacle.