Abu Dhabi: Formula One team principals feel the sport is resilient enough to ward off any crisis that may arise out of the ongoing Eurozone upheaval and said the sport's foray into new regions reflected the ability to find solutions.
Replying to a question at a press conference on Friday night whether the Eurozone crisis and the subsequent austerity measures, if any, would impact the sport, McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh said F1 had weathered a similar crisis a few years back.
‘Too comfortable now'
"Firstly, it is incredibly tough for any team to go out there and get the funding to come racing, which we all love to do. I think one thing I would observe though is that Formula One had a crisis at the end of 2008 and the beginning of 2009. We had Honda, Toyota and BMW exiting right at a critical moment for the world economy," Whitmarsh said.
"In some ways, those of us that were involved at that time think it brought the best out in Formula One because for a while … we react well in a crisis and I think we did react well. Perhaps we are all a little bit too comfortable now — some of the teams — and another bit of a crisis might focus some minds on what we need to do together," he said.
Frank Williams of William F1 team said, "Working backwards, I have no comment to make as I'm not knowledgeable enough about where the money will come from in the long term. I believe it will still come from Europe because the sport is based in Europe, most people who watch it are from Europe."
"There will always be money to keep the teams in business. The determination within some of the teams is immeasurable," he added.
Mercedes GP team principal Ross Brawn said, "I think the teams will find solutions. As Frank [Williams] said, they're incredibly resilient. I daren't bring it up but we're working hard on the resource restriction; if we need to, that can be tightened even further, if we see that it's justified. So I think the teams are incredibly resilient and we will cut our cloth to suit the climate and that's what will happen."
Need to adapt
Ferrari's Stefano Domenicali said, "I think that it is not only a matter of Formula One but the world is moving, changing and that Formula One as another business company has to — let's say — adapt or try to anticipate the move in order not to be the last to arrive where potentially there is a new market of new potential interest."
