Max Mosley Q&A

"There are two problems. One is we are seeing a decline in media interest and TV audiences, which is obviously bad for F1. And the other is that the costs have been increasing, and the revenues are showing signs of decreasing, because both the television and advertising budgets are going down. So that means that some of the smaller teams are beginning to be in difficulty, so we have to get the costs under control. We also need them to improve the spectacle."



"The thing is that for example Suzuka could have turned out to be a very exciting race, but you would probably have been reluctant to get up at 6am to watch a race where Michael's on pole by three-quarters of a second, effectively."



"The problem now is that people have become spoiled. For five seasons almost in succession it went to the last race. People expect that level of interest and excitement now. And I think we could bring that back by one means or another, but of course we need to get the teams to agree."



"That's one theory, but in fact if you were starting F1 now, with a clean sheet of paper, it's probably exactly what you would do. It's much fairer, It would mean that the best driver won the championship, it would mean the best team won the championship, it would stop rent-a-drives, it would stop team orders, and it would be completely fair. But above all, there would be something to talk about down the pub before every race, because you would always have some way-out driver/car combination that was just fascinating. It would be irresistible to put the television on to see what happened when you had Raikkonen in the Ferrari or Villeneuve in the Williams."



"It could happen, if everybody was imaginative and determined, and really wanted F1 to take a big leap forward. Unfortunately, they probably won't be."



"Yes, they're a very conservative bunch by nature..."



"Between now and then there will probably be exchanges of views, and I hope some other ideas. It shouldn't just be us producing ideas, there should be some ideas coming from the teams, which hasn't happened yet. But when it does, we'll do something."



"It could be. And the important thing is that it won't affect the outcome of the championship in the least. What it will do is make it harder and longer to win the championship."



"This is true, but unfortunately we are bound by an agreement which was originally signed by my predecessor under pressure from Bernie and me! So you can't blame that."



"We're going to think of something..."