LEAD: Ferrari quit FOTA, Red Bull reportedly as well

By Jens Marx Dec 2, 2011, 15:49 GMT

Berlin - Ferrari have quit the Formula One Teams' Association (FOTA) over a dispute on cost-cutting in the sport, the Italian team said on Friday.

The news came after the autosport.com website said that Ferrari and constructors' world champions Red Bull were quitting the organization over the unsolved Resource Restriction Agreement (RRA).

Autosport quoted a FOTA spokesman as saying that 'it has received the resignation of two teams,' without naming them.

Red Bull are yet to confirm the report, while Ferrari posted a statement on their website, confirming their withdrawal.

'Ferrari has informed FOTA President Martin Whitmarsh that it is leaving the organisation made up of the teams competing in the Formula One World Championship,' Ferrari said in a statement on its website.

Ferrari spoke of 'a difficult decision' which was 'taken reluctantly after analysing the current situation and the stalemate when it came to debate on some issues that were at the core of why the association was formed.'

F1 has undergone big cost cutting measures over the past years in various aspects such as restricting the number and power of engines per team and outlawing tests in-between races and immediately after the season.

While Red Bull and Ferrari appear to have unlimited funds, more than half of the 12 teams struggle to meet their respective budget.

Ferrari acknowledged that Formula One is currently going through a delicate period,' but insisted that the highest level of motor sport technology is needed for the future of F1.

The Italian team said that Formula One must become more 'user friendly and more accessible to the general public' with the help of more testing opportunities and that the sport must again be a 'test bed for advanced technological research.'

'Ferrari will continue to work with the other teams to make the current RRA, Resource Restriction Agreement, aimed at controlling costs, more effective and efficient, modifying it to make it more stringent in key areas such as aerodynamics, to rebalance some aspects such as testing and to expand it to areas currently not covered such as engines.'

Autosport said that Red Bull and Ferrari are to meet with representatives of the other two big teams, McLaren and Mercedes, in the near future in order to find a solution - ultimately for all FOTA teams.

The talks are expected to take place before a scheduled December 7 meeting of the FIA World Motor Sport Council.