Schumacher names F1 cost-cutting a necessary move

Dec 14, 2008, 14:57 GMT

London - Drastic cost-cutting measures in Formula One racing won't change the pecking order in the sport, record world champion Michael Schumacher believes.

Schumacher said the savings were necessary amid the global recession which also affects him in the form of less tests at Ferrari than originally planned.

But the German said at the Race of Champions on the weekend in London's Wembley Stadium that the famed Italian team, along with McLaren-Mercedes and others, will dominate the sport again in 2009.

'The top teams will remain the top teams because they normally have the better personnel,' Schumacher said.

'You can change certain things to make it tighter but you will never manage to bring a so-called back-bencher to the top through a rule change.'

The seven-times world champion named the changes set up by the governing body FIA on Friday 'reasonable.' There will be no more tests during the season, a driver is limited to eight engines per season and small teams will get a standard engine from 2010 onwards.

The new measures are to cut costs by around one third for the teams which have spent hundreds of millions of dollars (euros) each season.

Changes were sped up once Honda pulled out of F1 on December 5 over the recession which has hit carmakers head-on. Spending less money could ease fears that other manufacturers will follow Honda.

'Motorsport can't close its eyes to the current conditions. We will see changes in motorsport. The people have less money, the companies have less money. The times are tough for everyone,' said Schumacher.

Schumacher said he will have less tests at Ferrari, but that he could live with that because 'I never really liked the test drives.'

Schumacher's 250 career wins show that he preferred races. He named it ironic that rights holder Bernie Ecclestone plans to do away with the points system in the sport and replace it with a medals system.

'This is quite amusing. In the past, during my days, the new (points) system was introduced to stop me from winning. And now they want to introduce the old system again to make the winners win,' said Schumacher.