Ferrari row puts future of F1 back in the spotlight

THE fight taking place here under the light bulbs had less to do with qualifying — in which Valtteri Bottas took pole position — than with the future health of Formula One itself.

Enter Jean Todt, president of the rule-making FIA, who openly contemplated the withdrawal of the Ferrari brand he led as team manager to 11 world titles during the Michael Schumacher era.

The dispute centres on the direction of the sport post-2020, when the teams’ existing agreements expire, and engine specifications and commercial regulations can be redrawn. Ferrari have always received extra cash — and a veto — given their status as the only team to have competed unbroken in the world championship since its inauguration in 1950, and recognition that, along with Monaco, they bring unmatchable glitz to the party.

Ferrari president Sergio Marchionne recently said the Scuderia would quit if changes proposed by F1’s new owners, Liberty Media, to level the playing field with a rebalancing of revenues and the introduction of a new, cheaper and simpler engine from 2021, go ahead.

Todt, in the Abu Dhabi paddock for the last round of the championship, responded to the threat with his own carrot and stick, saying: ‘I do not want to see Ferrari leaving, but I am not sure it will be a good thing for Ferrari to go. Ferrari are a unique brand — combined between racing and road cars — so I think it would be painful for them not to be in Formula One.’

There now promises to be several years of wrangling over the future of the sport.