F1 underdogs don’t want 'favours'

F1 News
Date: 28/October/2011

Representatives from some of the middle-ranking F1 teams have rejected the concept of handing them extra concessions to help compete with the likes of Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari.

One proposal is that lower ranking teams could be allowed more time for testing, in order to help close the gap to the front runners, but Toro Rosso's Franz Tost thinks it isn’t that simple.

"I don’t think that if the teams which are running in the midfield get the possibility for more tests that it would increase their performance, or put them in front of the current best teams," he said.

"It’s always a combination. If you look at Red Bull, they have a fantastic team with Adrian Newey who is a fantastically good designer, they have one of the best drivers in their car, and the team itself is also doing a very, very good job.

"That means that this combination has grown up in the last two years and it’s not that you say now, for example, to any other team which is behind, ‘OK, we give you more tests and then you will beat them.’ "

Sauber's Monisha Kaltenborn felt that introducing a kind of two-tier rule system was against the sprit of F1.

"I think any such measures would basically distort the championship and the sport," she said. "Looking at our team, we know our strengths and we can be more flexible than bigger teams can, so we have to focus on them, seeing where the resources restriction [which limits spending] is going, these kind of measures. We need to wait for our chance and we need to be there then."

Williams chairman Adam Parr said it would be 'inappropriate' to receive any favours and that controlling the costs was his main priority.

"Just two thoughts: first of all we don’t expect any favours on the track, and I think it would be inappropriate to ask or suggest that," he said. "Where I do think the sport needs to work together is off the track and that includes the economics.

"So while I don’t think we should get any advantage, I think that having a sensible control over the total spending is logical."

Jean Francois Caubet of Renault F1 Sport believes the present F1 hierarchy will remain until major rule changes in 2014.

"I think you must wait until 2014 because in ’14 you will have new regulations, new chassis, new engine, probably a lot of creativity and things will be completely different in ’14," he explained.

"I think it will be something like a new Formula One and the gap will be very big in comparison to now."