Mosley wants all-new F1 in 2008

FIA president Max Mosley revealed his dramatic ambitions at the Chinese Grand Prix, amid growing concerns that F1 cannot continue to function unless something is done to reduce the growing expense of competing. The issue has been thrust back into the spotlight following Ford's decision to withdraw Jaguar Racing from F1 at the end of the year, which was partly blamed on F1's rising costs.

Speaking to the media in Shanghai, Mosley said: "A Formula 1 car in 2008 will be significantly cheaper to develop, to build and to run than the existing F1 cars.

"The teams will have to bargain collectively with Bernie [Ecclestone] as far as their income is concerned in 2008, but their position will be infinitely better if their basic costs are far lower. That we can and will ensure.

"If one or more of the big manufacturers say 'we don't want to do that, we want to go on with massively expensive cars' - well by all means if they want to run a series, then provided it is safe we will sanction it. But bankruptcy will follow so it wouldn't be of any concern. For F1, we will eliminate the costs."

The FIA cannot put together a radical overhaul of the rules until 2008 because of the Concorde Agreement, the document by which the sport is run. It stipulates that technical regulations cannot be modified without the support of the teams before the end of 2007 - forcing Mosley to bide his time. It is why he will wait until next year to commission a study to create all new rules for F1.

When asked about whether there was any short term concern that Jaguar's fate could see the grid slump below 20 cars next year, Mosley said he was optimistic a solution could be found for all of the current 10 teams.

"What I think is the most likely scenario is that someone will buy Jaguar, Minardi will keep going like they always have and Jordan will find a solution in one way or another," he said. "And we will have the same 20 cars next year."