Word: caps
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...offtrack maneuvers that are revving up drama. Talks in London among the teams and authorities in motor sport's blue-ribbon championship ended without agreement Friday, failing to settle an ugly row over plans by the FIA, Formula One's governing body, to impose a voluntary $60 million budget cap on teams next year. Those who accept it will then have greater technical freedom to upgrade their cars beyond the current tight bounds...
While some teams have cheered the idea, others have blown a gasket. Ferrari, the sport's oldest and most illustrious team, this week threatened to quit Formula One unless the plans were parked. On Friday, Team Ferrari filed an injunction in a French court to block the cap. Rivals Renault, Toyota, Red Bull and Torro Rosso all issued similar warnings. "If the regulations for 2010 will not change," read a Ferrari statement, "then Ferrari does not intend to enter cars in the next Formula One world championship." (See the 50 worst cars of all time...
...teams' gripe: such a scheme would create a two-tier championship, with those able to accept the cap free to add movable front and rear wings, for instance, or carry out unlimited out-of-season testing. Such activities could chop three seconds off a lap time. Moreover, the manner in which the plans came about has also put teams in a spin. Not having been consulted sufficiently by the governing body, Renault said in its own statement, it was now refusing "to accept unilateral governance handed out by the FIA." (See pictures of the American muscle car in the movies...
Despite the breakdown of talks Friday, it's still unlikely that those opposing the cap will need to follow through on their threats to leave when the deadline for entering next season expires on May 29; after all, few sports can rival Formula One for its history of posturing. Ferrari, the only team to have competed since the series began in 1950, threatened in the 1980s to leave for the Indianapolis 500. Drastic proposals by the FIA last year to introduce a standardized engine across all teams - a nonstarter for the likes of Ferrari - quickly looked like scare tactics aimed...
...deeper issues remain. For a sport eager to attract more teams and sponsors - owing to financial pressures, some of each have left the sport in recent months - the arguments and uncertainty do little for Formula One's appeal. With the FIA already having raised the budget cap from $45 million under pressure from the teams, "it's wrong that it has become such a public debate," says Jackie Stewart, a three-time Formula One world champion and ex-team boss. "It's unsettling for the marketplace...