ROME: Ferrari drivers Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen claimed the constructors� proud history in motor racing would endure even if they do quit Formula One.
The Italian company threatened to walk away from the sport on Tuesday if the International Automobile Fe��dera��tion (FIA) don�t reverse a ruling to limit budget spending next season.
The FIA proposal would see a voluntary budget cap of �40mil which would bring advantages to teams that respect it. That proposal has outraged many teams including Renault, Red Bull and Toyota who believe it would produce a two-tier championship with some teams having a significant advantage over others.
But Massa and Raikkonen believe that Ferrari are big enough to be a success even outside of F1.
�I understand the motivation, why the company got to this point. The idea of having a championship with two velocities, with cars which, for example, are allowed to have flexible wings or an en���gine without a rev limiter, is absurd,� he said.
�We�ve already seen this year that the rules� uncertainty not only led to a lot of confusion for us involved, but mainly for the fans. Imagine what might happen with what has been set up for 2010.
�For a driver, racing a Ferrari in F1 is a dream and I made mine come true.
�Since I was a child Ferrari has been the synonym for racing for me; that�s why I�m convinced that even if the Scuderia is forced to leave F1, there will be other competitions where it will be possible to admire the Reds on the track.�
Raikkonen said it was inconceivable to think of F1 without the only team to have competed in every one of the 60 seasons since the inception of F1.
�It�s difficult to think of a F1 without Ferrari,� he said. �When I drove for McLaren the Scuderia from Maranello was the benchmark, the competitor you had to be compared with.
�Since I arrived here I understood that it is much more than just a team, it�s a legend, perpetuated via its road and racing cars.
�I always had the passion for racing with everything with an engine and I always thought of F1 as the pinnacle of motor sports, in terms of competition and technology.
�I can�t imagine drivers racing each other on the track with cars built according to different rules; that wouldn�t be good for the sport itself or for the fans.
�If that should happen, it would be too bad and I understand that a company like Ferrari is thinking about racing somewhere else.� � AFP
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