Those views were echoed by
Honda CEO Nick Fry, who suggested the top flight should endeavour to attract interest from major global marques who possess the necessary funding to be able to stay around for the foreseeable future, rather than just a handful of years as has been the case over the past decade or so with the likes of
Super Aguri, Prost, Simtek, Pacific and Forti Corse among others.
Though the loophole in the regulations that allowed for customer cars to remain in the first place received stern opposition from independent entries such as
Williams, the Grove-based squad's team founder Frank Williams argued the current economic climate within F1 is the greatest stumbling block for potential newcomers a standpoint shared by
Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner and
BMW Motorsport Director Dr Mario Theissen, both of whom stressed the urgent necessity to bring spiralling costs back under control again.
If a privateer was trying to enter, financially you would find it very difficult right now to raise money, to raise capital, and I would imagine that's what Aguri's problem was, 66-year-old Williams expressed in an interview with
ITV F1. He just couldn't find the money.
We have a Japanese driver, never yet found a penny of sponsorship for him in Japan, and that's much cheaper than actually creating a team.
A budget cap is set to be introduced by the
FIA next year which, according to German publication
Auto Motor und Sport, will be implemented in three stages. In 2009, the cap is expected to be around 150 million, reducing to 130 million in 2010 and 110 million in 2011. Driver and team boss salaries, as well as engine and marketing costs, are not believed to fall under the restrictions.
