FIA President Jean Todt planning a stronger future for Formula 1
Former Ferrari team boss and current FIA President Jean Todt believes that Formula 1 is going towards the right direction, since the sport is out of the financial crisis faced earlier this year.
Jean Todt, who has been in charge of motorsport's world governing body for a year, believes that it has been a very difficult road for powerful manufacturers like BMW, Honda, and Toyota. Incidentally, none of them has been very
successful in the sport, therefore when these companies spend a huge amount of money without success, it's probably easier when they (the manufacturers) have to decide where and how to invest.
The global economy meltdown has caused a lot of problems for Formula 1 since 2009 and the three major manufacturers Honda, Toyota and BMW were forced to quit the sport due to this problem. Many critics believe that the sport was
vitally affected in terms of finances because of the loss of three powerhouses. However, the FIA had to make a choice and the best option for them was to introduce the trio of new teams in Lotus, Virgin and HRT.
“Last Friday I (Todt) visited Honda, and the R&D development and all they are doing for their new cars is amazing, so they are definitely leaders. But it must be very painful for a company like that, when you are a leader in new
technologies, not to have been able to have been a leader in Formula One,” he added.
Jean stated that three new teams have been introduced and they are doing pretty well in their first season even though none of them have scored any points. They have the potential to evolve in the years to come and they are respectable
teams.
The three new teams have proved that they are very brave and they have made their mark; however, the drivers and the teams are now underperforming and if they want to make it to the top, they will have to take it to an higher level.
“We now have 12 teams participating in Formula One, which I feel is a good number. Hopefully we are at the end of the big economic crisis, and I think 12 teams in Formula One is quite an encouraging result,” said the FIA president.
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