Mercedes: Costs must be cut 50 per cent

Eurosport - Fri, 05 Dec 17:20:00 2008

German carmaker Mercedes has said Formula One teams must cut costs by at least 50 per cent over the next two years, although its own financial position remains solid.

FORMULA 1 2008 - Lewis Hamilton in his McLaren-Mercedes during free practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos - 0

The future of F1 is up in the air after McLaren Mercedes' Japanese rival Honda announced that it was pulling out of the sport due to spiralling costs.

"Within the Formula One Teams Association we're working very hard on measures to cut costs, and over the next two years we must achieve cuts of at least 50 per cent," said Norbert Haug, the head of Mercedes Motorsport.

"Our Formula One involvement is built on financially solid foundations and is in large part financed by our sponsoring partners."

McLaren won the 2008 drivers' championship through Briton Lewis Hamilton (pictured), although they were beaten to the manufacturers' title by Italian marque Ferrari.

"This pullout is very sad," Haug said of Honda's withdrawal. "It only shows how important the cost-cutting measures are that we've been advocating for more than five years, and which have only been realised to a small degree.

"Mercedes-Benz's contribution is cost-efficient, the resonance in the media and in the public which last season and Lewis Hamilton's win generated was worth many times our financial investment."

In a separate statement, German carmaker Audi said its US factory team would not take part in the American Le Mans Series, despite a series of wins since it first entered in 2000.

Another Japanese team Toyota said it was also committed to cutting costs.

"We are contributing to the FOTA activities which will achieve significant cost reductions whilst maintaining the spirit of the sport," a team statement said.

"We hope FOTA's proposals and activities will be given the widespread support they deserve as they provide the sound, stable base Formula One requires at this time."

Reuters

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  1. m.e.jenner: not printable is just Ronald McDonald in­ drag. His/her feeble attempts at annoying people are­ hilarious. He/She knows pretty much nothing about­ sports and is just here to annoy. He/She is on a few­ other sport comment pages too.......An UGLY drag queen­ at best.

    From crispyduck, on Mon 8 Dec 11:08AM

  2. The 2008 season is over. Let it go. Please try to get­ some semblance of a life.

    From ST, on Mon 8 Dec 5:31AM

  3. Had a bad experience with a TR6 non printable?ever­ driven a decent restored one?or are you just too used­ to the norm.Perhaps you can tell me what cars you own­ and have owned.

    From wizzo, on Sun 7 Dec 11:23PM

  4. mclaren are cheats along with hamilton No 1 will ever­ take them too seriosly, they tarnish the name of F1 un­ repairable now my hoes THE NAME OF F1 TOO TARNISHED it­ is a joke...

    From , on Sun 7 Dec 10:23PM

  5. hello my little f1 bum chums it marion here from peru.­
    mr hamiltons son say he stay with mclaren men for­ life. that nice for him but what do mclaren men say?­ you see mclaren is now german owned. the parent company­ is the mercedes benz which is the german. the engine is­ the german engine. everything about the team is the­ german. mr hamiltons son now the swiss gentleman he eat­ much cheese and sings in the morning at mountains. mr­ hamiltons father is also now the swiss man. in fact­ there nothing british about this team at all. even the­ man who tidy up the garage after the race has moved to­ switzerland with his mother. switzerland is owned by­ the german. my friends the whole team is GERMAN - and­ guess what - so is mr glock. now you see why the time­ stand still for mr glock on the last lap. like he in­ the time warp. not even the people abducted by the­ alien lose the amount of time he lost on that last lap.­ IT IS A DISGRACE!!!

    From , on Sun 7 Dec 10:18PM

  6. F1 IS ABOUT TEAMS AND ENGINE BUILDERS..ITS WRONG TO­ START CHANGING REGULATIONS AND RULES JUST BECAUSE..SO­ HONDA PULLING OUT YES IS SAD , BUT THEN AGAIN IF THEY­ CANNOT MAKE THEIR CHASSIS AND ENGINE A BETTER­ COMBINATION, THEN BYE BYE HONDA, AND LETS GET SOMEONE­ NEW AND EXICTED ABOUT WHAT F1 IS.AND WHY NOT HAVE 2­ FORMULAS IN ONE?

    From NUNO, on Sun 7 Dec 10:14PM

  7. FOR DRIVIN FOR MOST CORRUPT TEAM IN HISTORY

    From , on Sun 7 Dec 6:31PM

  8. I don't see the 2008 F1 Title as tarnished, that­ nice Mr Massa lost it at Melbourne (put his car in the­ wall at Turn 1) and at the Hungaroring (piston went in­ his $4 million Ferrari engine, nasty)

    From , on Sun 7 Dec 5:58PM

  9. Well if F1 dies tomorrow, then at least Lewis made­ history before it was buried.

    From Poison pill, on Sun 7 Dec 2:38PM

  10. Marion and Marnio, the 2008 F1 Championship is history­ now. Please move on to discuss the 2009 season, at the­ moment set to start without the Honda team.

    From , on Sun 7 Dec 1:58PM

  11. hello my little f1 bum chums it marion here from peru.­
    mr hamiltons son say he stay with mclaren men for­ life. that nice for him but what do mclaren men say?­ you see mclaren is now german owned. the parent company­ is the mercedes benz which is the german. the engine is­ the german engine. everything about the team is the­ german. mr hamiltons son now the swiss gentleman he eat­ much cheese and sings in the morning at mountains. mr­ hamiltons father is also now the swiss man. in fact­ there nothing british about this team at all. even the­ man who tidy up the garage after the race has moved to­ switzerland with his mother. switzerland is owned by­ the german. my friends the whole team is GERMAN - and­ guess what - so is mr glock. now you see why the time­ stand still for mr glock on the last lap. like he in­ the time warp. not even the people abducted by the­ alien lose the amount of time he lost on that last lap.­ IT IS A DISGRACE!!!

    From , on Sun 7 Dec 8:43AM

  12. if they dont want to pay it they can always do a honda

    From U R SOLES, on Sun 7 Dec 8:38AM

  13. mclaren are cheats along with hamilton No 1 will ever­ take them too seriosly, they tarnish the name of F1 un­ repairable now my hoes THE NAME OF F1 TOO TARNISHED it­ is a joke...

    From , on Sun 7 Dec 8:29AM

  14. too not printable having been working on the said rally­ for the last 3 days from 6 in the morning to 10/11 at­ night i would whole heartedly dissagree with you there­ mechanics keep them in races after they batter crash­ and roll there vehicles all over the place and even if­ you crash out still have all night to make it through­ park firme and yes ive worked silverstone too and with­ F1 it is still the mechanics that take most or should­ take most of the credit, as for un educated in peru­ hamilton lost the world champs with the car with stolen­ tech and his car was restricted from any of that tech­ even though most other manfacs had it this season so it­ was def the better driver winnning.
    P.S
    if your a­ proper petrol head you would know hes won everything­ hes ever been in since carting as ayoung young boy.

    From egg chaser, on Sun 7 Dec 7:19AM

  15. wizzo your taste in @#$% is amazing gear nob didnt come­ off but everything else fell of worlds worst sports car

    From not printable, on Sun 7 Dec 7:04AM

  16. jenner that is because I used to love F1 as well not­ any more its destroyed plus yahoo dont let me in on the­ rally section always invalid and lastly to annoy these­ idiots ranting rubbish in here

    From not printable, on Sun 7 Dec 7:00AM

  17. Well stivsf1, what's the point? marnio from Penge­ or some place as boring as his posts are becoming makes­ a statement which is relevant to what in particular?­ Just for the record, the reason GBs engineering base­ went down the pan was not due to poor engineers. It was­ due to a management and, in particular, a workforce who­ were as frightened and resistant to change as most of­ the contributors to these pages. Our best science had­ been passed on to the Americans to help in the 2nd­ World War and there was no wish to spend what little­ money was available on R&D. The car industry in­ particular needed exports in order to flourish. Sadly,­ it was not understood that good exports require good­ service and spare part facilities, so our exports­ failed. Our home market was not large enough to sustain­ a more and more sophisticated technology and the unions­ applied the coup de grace in the face of cheap imports­ from Japan. So we gave up mass engineering and­ concentrated on banking which, as we all now know, is­ where the real Satan still lives!

    Oooops! That means­ he must partly sponsor Maclaren and all those­ 'proper' engineers that marnio from penge is so­ keen on! Never mind...

    From Biffo, on Sun 7 Dec 3:50AM

  18. Mr Bolam the gear stick never came of in my TR6.

    From wizzo, on Sat 6 Dec 9:12PM

  19. not printable - you really puzzle me, you havn't a­ good word to say for F1 - so what on earth are you­ doing on an F1 site? It doesn't make sense.

    From m.e.jenner, on Sat 6 Dec 8:05PM

  20. Honda 700 employees 4 cars, two for racing, Mclaren­ 1000 employees 2 racing 2 spare. Ford 220 employees 8­ cars all racing for 3 consecutive days - makes you­ wonder

    From not printable, on Sat 6 Dec 7:45PM
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