MOTOR SPORT/FORMULA ONE:Ferrari warned yesterday that they could quit Formula One if the sport's governing body continues with its plans to slash costs.
The famous Italian team, which has been in formula one since its inauguration in 1950, sent a firm signal to the FIA president, Max Mosley, that his idea of introducing so-called standard engines into the sport would take away their raison d'etre for competing in motor racing.
Last week the Ferrari team sporting director, Stefano Domenicali, and Toyota's formula one vice-president, John Howett, met Mosley to discuss the issue of cost-cutting, which would also help the smaller teams survive.
But the issue of standard engines has pushed them too far.
Ferrari, in a statement released following a board meeting yesterday, said they "fully agreed with the need for a substantial and necessary reduction of costs".
But the Italian firm said it had "major reservations" over any proposals that would lead to teams using the same engines: "It would deprive Formula One of its whole reason for existing, which is based on competition and technological development.
"If these elements were to become obsolete, our administrative council (board) reserves the right, after consultation with its partners, to evaluate whether we remain committed to the discipline (of Formula One)."
Ferrari have been historically closely aligned with the FIA and the sport's commercial rights holder, Bernie Ecclestone, and it will not have escaped Mosley's attention that they are one of the few Formula One teams who have, in the past, successfully forced the governing body to back down from rule changes with which they disapproved. At the end of 1986 Ferrari forced the FIA to abandon plans to ban V12 engines in favour of V10s.
Howett echoed Ferrari's sentiments yesterday, and said any decision to quit would be down to the company's board in Japan.
"I don't think any of the manufacturers want a homogenised engine," said Howett. Mercedes, Honda, Renault and BMW are the other four manufacturers currently involved in Formula One, and it is understood they are of the same mind.
Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton is being told by McLaren to take things easy in Sunday's Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos, where he needs to finish only in the top five to clinch the world championship, but the British team yesterday made it clear they are leaving nothing to chance to ensure that the 23-year-old has the best equipment at his disposal to help him see off Ferrari's Felipe Massa, the only man who can deny him.
Far from sitting back and being happy with the specification of their MP4-23 vehicle as used by Hamilton to dominate the Chinese Grand Prix at Shanghai, the McLaren technical department has been working on a new rear wing and a raft of other aerodynamic tweaks for Sunday's gruelling event at the circuit in the suburbs of Sao Paulo.
McLaren sources confirm that recent intensive aerodynamic development programmes have left the team feeling sufficiently confident about a number of key changes to the car's aerodynamic package for them to be introduced for the final race of the year.
Although the most conspicuously visible difference will centre around the rear wing, it is believed there will also be at least six other areas on the car where the team have targeted a step forward in pace.
McLaren F1's chief executive, Martin Whitmarsh, said the team has been working hard on the elements that have now been given the green light for use in the race. "We have put the effort into primarily an aerodynamic package to enhance the efficiency of the car," he said.
McLaren have made it clear since Shanghai that, despite the title situation, they are continuing their preparations for Brazil as intensively as they could.
"It's clearly not done, but most likely it's only unreliability that's going to cause us a problem," said the team principal, Ron Dennis.
