Formula One team Toyota wary of knee-jerk response to credit crisis

Any rushed response to the global credit crisis could do Formula One more harm than good, Toyota motorsport president John Howett said.

"I think the danger is that a knee-jerk reaction could be catastrophic," he told a news conference.

"In the end, if we have pressure, we will be told that's the budget and we will survive."

International Automobile Federation (FIA) president Max Mosley said last week that the manufacturer-dominated sport faced serious problems and needed urgent cost-cutting measures in place for 2010.

Mosley is due to sit down with the 10 teams, some of whom have budgets estimated to be in excess of $400 million a year at a time when many car companies are suffering dwindling sales and sinking share prices, after this month's Chinese Grand Prix.

Formula One's commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone has suggested introducing a standard engine for all 10 teams, with each unit designed to last for half a season.

Howett, whose team are reckoned to have the biggest budget of anyone in the paddock, said the situation needed to be put into context.

"If you look at some of the figures released for the English Premier League in terms of teams' liquidity, the issues being faced by F1 teams are relatively minor," he said.

"Clearly, as a car manufacturer we will come under pressure because a number of markets are depressed," continued Howett.

"You can paint a very black picture or you can say there is a lot of upside here for Formula One and also for those well-managed teams and well-managed manufacturers.

"We will go through a hard time, I'm sure that we will all survive and we will probably come out with a stronger sport."

Honda F1 chief executive Nick Fry said the sport needed to eliminate "wasted expenditure", with some sort of immediate action required.

"Whilst we shouldn't panic, we need to do things for the short term and that means next year," he said.

"It's difficult to say otherwise when you have 5,000 people laid off recently at a car factory in France.

"How can that manufacturer turn to its employees and say it's not going to do anything?

"There's a requirement for some of the Formula One teams to have instant action," he added.

"You've only got to look at the accounts of some of the Formula One teams to see losses over the last couple of years and that needs to be addressed. The bank manager is not going to lend any more money."

Six of the 10 teams are owned or part-owned by BMW, Fiat (Ferrari), Honda, Mercedes (McLaren), Renault and Toyota.

The other four are supplied with engines by the manufacturers.