THE Formula One car manufacturers have lost touch with reality and should club together to help save smaller teams and the future of the sport, said Max Mosley, President of FIA. He also threatened to go back on his decision to allow traction control to remain in F-1 in 2004 if the car makers did not supply cheap engines to the poorer teams.
A price of $ 10m has been mentioned, but several car manufacturers have said that the price is unrealistic. While Mercedes has made supportive noises, but questioned the cost, Renault and Toyota are among those to have ruled out supplying anyone else in 2004.
Mosley said that some of the non-manufacturer teams — Sauber, Jordan and Minardi — were in danger of dropping out of the sport next year unless immediate action was taken.
Teams like Minardi are struggling to survive, according to Mosley. "If something is not done quickly then it would be very surprising if we have got all ten teams at the beginning of next season", he added. If more small teams followed Prost and Arrows out of business, the manufacturers would pay a heavy price and the sport could be in danger of collapse, Mosley said.
"The manufacturer-backed teams live in that paddock and they spend money like you can't believe and I think they are out of touch with reality," said Mosley.
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