Rule changes will see job losses, admits Mosley.

[FourWheelDrift]

Crash net said:

Following on from Cosworth's confirmation that up to 40 per cent of its staff will lose their jobs at the end of the year, FIA president Max Mosley has confirmed thousands more jobs could be lost as a result of the sweeping cost-reducing measures being enforced in Formula One.

Furthermore, according to the Independent, British workers are most at risk from the job losses as seven of the eleven teams are based in the UK, each employing between 500 and 1,000 people working in chassis and engine development.

The single biggest reason why jobs are on the line is the controversial engine freeze to be enforced for next season, as it will reduce the need to employ people to develop engines over the year, with Cosworth, who supply Williams and Scuderia Toro Rosso, the first to reveal that they will have to lose 40 per cent of around 300 people they currently employ.

Max Mosley admitted he realises the changes, which are also set to include standardised parts from 2009, will have obvious ramifications, but insisted that this is part of a bigger picture for the future of Formula One, to increase competitiveness by reducing budgets.

"There are bound to be redundancies," Mr Mosley said. "If you employ 1,000 people to put two cars on the grid 19 times a year, and you can do the same thing with 200 people, at the same level... well then, those 800 people, they haven't got a job."

"The target is to set the budget for a top team, which is currently spending €300m (£205m), to €100m, and then a small team could be competitive with €40m or €50m," he continued.

Although different teams spend more than others on employment costs, it remains the largest expense in Formula One, with between £160million and £200million thought to the figure paid out by some squads.

He's all heart isn't he



Still at least he's still got his job and that's all that counts.....................according to him anyway.

[Marki]

FourWheelDrift said:

Still at least he's still got his job and that's all that counts.....................according to him anyway.

Its a job Jim , but not as we know it

[kevin ritson]

Costs spiralling out of control will lead to the same thing...as it is lower costs = more teams = more job opportunities

[FourWheelDrift]

But the F1 teams will put money into other areas. It's always happened in F1 when you are competitive and want an advantage to win. If they try to cut costs with engines it'll free up more resources for other areas, they will still spend similar ammounts of money overall. All you have here is a vacuum of talent in the engine departments and people with no jobs to go to.

[FourWheelDrift]

kevin ritson said:

.as it is lower costs = more teams = more job opportunities

They are limited to the number of teams on the grid, when Prodrive join next year, that's it. No more space, no more teams on the grid no more opportunities.

[Woody]

Great..... nice on Max.

I'm assuming 'Mad Max' has never been unemployed/made redundant, or if he has he's had plenty of money to get him by......... bet he's never had a mortgage to pay and kids to feed whilst not having any income.

I'm sure the guy's in F1 who are to be made redundant will appreciate Max's kind words - Fg TO$$ER!!!!!!!!!!

Perhaps we could turn it round - F1 only needs one dictatorial maniac, how about we get rid of (sorry - make redundant) Max and just let Bernie run it all .

Chris

[LongQ]

Quite how you can freeze engine development and still claim to be the pinnacle of anything to do with engineering is quite beyond me.

Just how does that benefit the other objectives the Greening Monster aspires to?

Maybe the whole championship thing will just be handed to the GP2 boys. Perhaps he will set maxiumum driver salaries next?

Still, sponsorship should suddenly get cheaper.

If they have standardised components throughout the car most of the current designers would lack any sort of challenge. Wonder what they would move on to?

Would I want 100 years worth of marketing right? Bernie is shrewd so no wonder he sold out (again) if he could see this restriction of global opportunity heading his way.

Having said all of that I still think the sport was better when the teams were much smaller - but that was then.

[FourWheelDrift]

LongQ said:

Having said all of that I still think the sport was better when the teams were much smaller - but that was then.

I think the reason why teams grew bigger and spent more money was because regulations were progressively brought in stopping them from being innovative with designs, meaning they had less and less areas in design where they could try to gain an advantage. It's got harder and harder and consequently the people making these improvements have gone from being hands on mechanical engineers to computer programmers/designers and chemical and material scientists. They need bigger teams and more expensive machinery and equipment to find those extra tenths now.

Cost cutting and tighter regulations in my opinion just cause bigger problems than they cure.

[flemke]

FourWheelDrift said:

But the F1 teams will put money into other areas. It's always happened in F1 when you are competitive and want an advantage to win. If they try to cut costs with engines it'll free up more resources for other areas, they will still spend similar ammounts of money overall. All you have here is a vacuum of talent in the engine departments and people with no jobs to go to.

They'll be inclined to do so, but Maxie's whole game plan is to make it either infeasible or unattractive for the teams to spend anything like as much as they're spending currently.
Engine constraints are only the beginning. They're talking about a common ECU. The single tyre source will require much less testing (plus an outright lower limit on testing days). After a certain point, even F1 teams will be unwilling to spend an incremental, say, £10M to achieve a few hundreths. At that point, you're more likely to get a result from hiring a new driver.

If Mozey in effect cuts the big budgets by £150M each (Ferrari, McLaren, Williams, Honda, Renault, Toyota, Red Bull), that's a billion pounds that won't be paid out to either their own employees or the employees of their suppliers. Either way, it's money that will come out of the sport (if the renowned lover of motorsport, who has said that he did not appreciate until last year that F1 fans would like to see more overtaking, gets his way).

[mr_yogi]

At the current rate won't they just build more extravagant mobile pit palaces with the spare cash?

[taffyracer]

I tend to agree with Max Max to a certain extent, the sport has gotten downright boring and only those that can spend do well, that's not good viewing and I am in favour of standardising ECU, Tyres and anything else that makes F1 more of a team sport where strategy and team work along with decent driving makes the difference rather than how much money you can throw at it. Standardisation is a good thing and they should have new smaller teams being more competitive, its about time there were more than 6 people capable of winning

[steviebee]

Woody said:

Great..... nice on Max.

I'm assuming 'Mad Max' has never been unemployed/made redundant, or if he has he's had plenty of money to get him by......... bet he's never had a mortgage to pay and kids to feed whilst not having any income.

I'm sure the guy's in F1 who are to be made redundant will appreciate Max's kind words - Fg TO$$ER!!!!!!!!!!

Perhaps we could turn it round - F1 only needs one dictatorial maniac, how about we get rid of (sorry - make redundant) Max and just let Bernie run it all .

Chris

This is the same as what happens in any other industry though.

Markets change, demands change, companies change. It's not nice but a fact of life. Max and Bernie have a duty of care over F1 - not it's employees. That's the job of the teams. It's also worth noting that F1 is in danger of costing itself into oblivion which would then result in many more job losses than are being predicted here so if anything, Mosely should be respected for making tough decissions rather than pandering to the whims of the teams. Not saying he's right or wrong but at least he's accepted that a problem exists and is doing something about it - as unpalletable as that may be.

[willibetz]

flemke said:

After a certain point, even F1 teams will be unwilling to spend an incremental, say, £10M to achieve a few hundreths. At that point, you're more likely to get a result from hiring a new driver.

Absolutely. As technologies converge (and bits get standardised), it seems likely that the best way to differentiate your team will be by hiring drivers that can make best use of the car every lap; by ensuring total reliability; by employing innovative strategy; and by ensuring that you use your tyres better or for longer than your competitors. Strikes me that none of the above is of particular interest to fans who want to see drivers pressured into making mistakes, cars that look different, innovation with resultant breakdowns, passing on circuit etc...

And how will a development freeze affect the supply chain? Will widget suppliers, whose widgets have been specified but development budgets slashed, just increase their prices to compensate?

F1 seems to be on a sad trajectory from its zenith as a showcase for disruptive technologies to the nadir of an expensive control formula...

WilliBetz

[LongQ]

I suppose there is just a small chance that some of the money will find its way into something else motorsport related and maybe create some other employment opportunities.

People used to come and go regularly even in the small team days. Most seemed to have a central core of fixtures, some new blood who came in and maybe stayed, moved to another team or got out to do other things after a year or two. Some were gap fillers with years of experience but a wandering preference who would join for a season and then go travelling again - especially those with US connections.

Maybe the Sports Car world will pick up again?

[FourWheelDrift]

Saw Cosworth on the news this evening, not a happy bunch. Jobs will have to go but they are talking about concentrating on other things, possible hints of leaving F1 by the sounds of things.

[Eric Mc]

Thirty years ago you could have an effective and successful team with 20 to 30 employees. Teams like Toyota and McLaren employ hundreds.

Is the sport any better for this?

[FourWheelDrift]

30 years ago you could go racing in F1 with a chassis you buy from Lola and an off the shelf DFV. It's very different these days.

[Eric Mc]

Don't I know it.

The question was, is it better?

[rubystone]

There's a very easy solution to ensure that we still get exciting racing, hire Paul Tracy and Alex Tagliani, throw in Danica Patrick and Tony Kanaan and see whether Matt Kenseth and Dale Earnhardt Junior want to come and play.

I've been made redundant before, it's not a nice feeling. But technical innovation in F1 eats money and requires bodies to service it. Running two wind tunnels for instance....and there's the rub - that's where a big chunk of that saved money will go - aero hasn't been limited has it?...I can see Toyota running 3 wind tunnels if they can find an advantage there.

I personally am in favour of limiting engine technology and therefore spend, but only if it was done in conjunction with enhancing the spectacle for those who care less about the strategy and more about the entertainment. For starters let's ban refuelling, tyre changes and traction control - drivers them have to learn how to manage heavy fuel loads and nurse tyres and we can then look forward to the last 10 laps of the race.

[flemke]

rubystone said:

- drivers them have to learn how to manage heavy fuel loads and nurse tyres and we can then look forward to the last 10 laps of the race.

Last year at the GW Revival one of the mechanics for a competitive car in the TT was quoted as saying that a current F1 driver (Liuzzi, IIRC) who was their guest driver for the occasion was instructed to stay in one gear for the race.
It seemed that he had never learned how to heel-and-toe!