JANUARY 15, 2003

But what about the immediate problems?

The FIA's cost-cutting plan for Formula 1 has one obvious flaw: it does nothing to help the teams which are in trouble right now. There are two teams - Jordan and Minardi - which are thought to not have the budget to get through the current season largely because both have to pay huge sums for a supply of engines. This problem should be solved within a year or two because the manufacturers will have to agree to supply all the teams involved but at the moment the engine bills are what is killing the little teams.

None of the cost-cutting measures which have been announced will do a great deal to help that situation, although the ban on spare cars will reduce transportation costs and will also probably reduce the number of staff needed at each race. This will not amount to millions of dollars and so the two small teams are still facing problems - unless the other teams come to their assistance. We hear rumors that this was discussed at the Heathrow meeting but at the moment there are no details of what (if anything) has been agreed.

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