What next??-

[Str8up]

Farrari want buget reductions?

I had to check my calendar today to make sure it wasn't April Fools when I read that head line.

Seems that Ross Brawn is not happy that Honda and Toyota can equal or exceed Farrari's budget.

Either that or the lose of key sponsors and financial woes at Fiat have brought out the bean counters have emerged.

Any other strage predictions out there for the future. I'm going for Berrie stating that tobacco sponsorship does not suit the F1 image.

[dumrick]

Well, Vodafone is leaving for McLaren in 2007 and last year shows that throwing millions in testing isn't enough to grant the championship...

[Scuderia_Russ]

I thought that Toyota and Honda had been exceeding their budget for about six years mate.

[f1.redbaron]

I thought that Toyota and Honda had been exceeding their budget for about six years mate.

I don't know about Honda, but Toyota, kind of, had no choice. Unlike most of the new teams, they decided to enter the sport from scratch. No chassis, no engine, no infrastucture...nothing! That burned a large hole in their pockets. But, believe me, those guys are not going to starve...

Honda, on the other hand, did have to buy out the remaining shares of BAR, but I can't believe that 55% of BAR is worth 500$ million dollars. I know that they'd been making investing into the team throughout that season, but still...

I had always been a Ferrari supporter. But this sudden change in attitude makes me wish them nothing but the worst. Stoddart had been pleading with the FIA to cut costs, but Ferrari kept screwing him over. Now, less than a year later, after a horrible season, they're doing exactly what Stoddart was fighting for all these years. I say f**k 'em!

[Apex]

I had always been a Ferrari supporter. But this sudden change in attitude makes me wish them nothing but the worst. Stoddart had been pleading with the FIA to cut costs, but Ferrari kept screwing him over. Now, less than a year later, after a horrible season, they're doing exactly what Stoddart was fighting for all these years. I say f**k 'em!

Yep, yep totally agree!

This just confirms how short sighted ferrari always was and now still is

[DaveKillens]

It's no secret that during Ferrari's run of dominance, they out-spent anyone else. Their budget was huge, and it showed in their results. There's a truth in racing, and that to go fast, you have to spend money. And in many circumstances, a team that is willing to spend more than their competitors winds up the dominant team.
So now, when all of a sudden other teams are stepping up to the plate and spending more than Ferrari, the odds are that soon they will eclipse Ferrari in performance. So what does Ferrari do? Money is tight, or else they would start throwing a lot of money into the team. But they can't meet or exceed Honda or Toyota's budgets. So they play the political route, moaning and wailing about the high costs, and that F1 needs to cut back on spending.
IMO, despite the very real need to reduce costs, this is just crass politics, a total reversal of their policy of the last decade.