Following criticism from Scuderia Ferrari president Sergio Marchionne about the potential 2021 engine regulations and possible standardisation of some parts, Formula 1 CEO Chase Carey has hit back, and says there are no plans to make it a ‘spec’ sport, and there will continue to be development avenues available to teams.
Marchionne felt Formula 1 was on the verge of being turned into a ‘NASCAR’ style championship and threatened to withdraw Ferrari from the sport, but Carey says that is far from the reality of the situation, but there has to be some kind of cost constraint in order to give fair opportunities to those teams with less finances than those at the front of the field.
“Actually I don’t think we have a differing view to Ferrari,” said Carey on Motorsport.com. “I’m not trying to be derogatory to NASCAR, but we don’t plan to be NASCAR either.
“We don’t want to standardise the cars. We don’t want 20 identical cars going round the track, and the only difference is the driver.
“F1 is unique, and it marries up competitive sport to state-of-the-art technology. We want the teams to have the ability to do what they do to create cars that are unique to them – unique engines to them, unique bodies to them.
“But we want to make success dependent on how well you spend your resources within some constraints, versus how much you spend. I think that’s a healthier sport.
“And then those that can develop the technologies, develop the capabilities that are better than others, will enable them to succeed.”
Carey feels Formula 1 would benefit from having more teams with the possibility of taking podiums and victories, and limiting the amount a team can spend in developing their car should give more teams that chance.
“We want teams to compete to win, but we want all the teams to have a chance,” insisted Carey. “It’s never going to be equal, there are going to be favourites that evolve, but we want the teams to feel that they all have a fighting chance.
“Sports are built on the unexpected, and we do want a sport that can have the unexpected. If somebody wins every race every week, at the end of the day, the sport’s going to suffer.
“You need competition, you need the unknown, you need great finishes, you need great dramas. We’ve got to create that.
“That attracts more funds, and realistically that benefits all the teams in the sport. Our first priority is to make this sport much better for us, and the existing teams in it.”
