Ferrari chairman Luca Cordero di Montezemolo said on Thursday he was ''delighted'' with the outcome of a meeting between the international racing association FIA and Formula 1 teams at which it was decided to shelve any proposal for a single motor for all cars.
Montezemolo is the head of the Formula One Teams Association (FOTA) which was created last season to give constructors a single voice in negotiating the future of the sport with FIA and the Formula One Group (FOG), which runs the sport's commercial side.
Speaking a day after he and other FOTA representatives met with FIA chief Max Mosely in Monte Carlo, Montezemolo said ''I was very pleased over the climate of unity and collaboration at the meeting. There was a common awareness of this difficult moment for our sport and everyone showed great responsibility''.
Montezemolo, who is also the chairman of Fiat, said that Mosley was right to push for major changes to cut costs, in view of the global economic crisis, and to ''get our sport back into acceptable economical dimensions''.
The results of the meeting were better than expected and even went ''beyond many of those made by Mosley, who took into account our counterproposals. In the end we voted unanimously for a substantial reduction of costs already as of 2009, which will be the most difficult year for the world economy,'' the FOTA head said.
By not adopting a single motor for all teams, Montezemolo observed, it was possible to ''maintain this sport's DNA of technology and sportiness which has made it one of the most popular sports in the world''.
Mosely recently sent shock waves through Formula 1 circles when he fielded the proposal that all teams use the same engine.
Ferrari, backed by several major teams, even went so far as to threaten to quit Formula 1 if the proposal was adopted.
''Much remains to be done, also because we have to consider the costs but also the earnings. In this sense yesterday we managed to agree with the FIA on the necessity to organize a meeting with FOG to discuss the economic side of the sport,'' the Ferrari chairman said.
