F1 needs Ferrari, say drivers

Formula One needs Ferrari, drivers said on Thursday in a rejection of FIA president Max Mosley's suggestion that the sport could live without the Italian glamour team.

The head of the governing International Automobile Federation, whose plan for a 40 million pound ($60.63 million) budget cap next season is opposed by the current world champions, said last weekend that "the sport could survive without Ferrari."

"I couldn't imagine it," McLaren's world champion Lewis Hamilton told a Spanish Grand Prix news conference.

"Impossible," agreed Renault's double champion Fernando Alonso.

"Without Ferrari I don't think it would be Formula One anymore," said Force India's Italian driver Giancarlo Fisichella.

BMW-Sauber's Nick Heidfeld said he had found Mosley's comments hard to understand.

"It was a bit strange hearing that from him," he said.

"I thought that people were looking and listening to the fans worldwide and Ferrari is obviously the biggest name in F1 with many supporters and has been there since the very beginning, so they belong in F1 for sure."

Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo, who heads the Formula One Teams Association (FOTA), wrote to Mosley last week to express concerns about the cost cap which he said could lead to a two-tier and "fundamentally unfair" Formula One.

He also warned separately that Ferrari's passion for the sport was "not a never-ending story".

FOTA issued a statement after a meeting in London on Wednesday calling for urgent talks with the FIA about the 2010 regulations.

BMW-Sauber team boss Mario Theissen said the teams were united in their response to the governing body and warned that failure to resolve the issues "would create a difficult situation" for manufacturers involved.

"What has made Formula One so strong is that there are teams with a great heritage, which have been around for many years and in the case of Ferrari for 60 years, teams who have contributed a lot to where we are now," he told reporters.

"I think the current mix of manufacturer teams and independent teams is quite a healthy one. We should be careful not to destroy this."

Mosley had said in his interview with the Financial Times that he was locked in a power struggle that he intended to win with "elements among existing teams" who felt that the teams should be running the sport.