Ferrari has reignited its long-running criticism over the quality of the new teams entering Formula 1, blaming former FIA president Max Mosley’s “holy war” for the fact the composition of the grid is not yet certain just weeks ahead of the season.
Since Mosley last year triggered a bitter battle over the future of the sport by proposing hugely controversial budget cap regulations in a bid to both cut spiralling costs and make the cost of competing viable for independent teams, Ferrari has been heavily critical of the calibre of outfits being granted entry onto the grid in the wake of the departure of three major manufacturers.
Now with Campos Meta having announced a major restructure in a last-ditch attempt to make the grid in time and US F1 admitting it has asked the FIA for dispensation to miss the opening grands prix, Ferrari has gone on the offensive once again just over two weeks ahead of the new season.
In an astonishing article on its official website entitled ‘The Horse Whisperer – For whom the bell tolls’, F1’s most successful team questions the Campos takeover, suggests the best way to contact US F1 is via "missing persons" and labels prospective entrant Stefan GP “Serbian vultures”.
Ferrari opens the column by drawing a comparison between the state of preparations for the established teams and four new squads ahead of this week’s crunch final pre-season test at Barcelona – US F1 and Campos having yet to test at all while Lotus and Virgin have both experienced teething problems.
“Only less than three weeks to go until the ultimate form of motor sport, the Formula 1 World Championship, gets underway, while celebrating its 60th birthday this year,” the Ferrari column said.
“For many of the teams, this coming week is a crucial one, as the bell rings to signal the final lap, with the last test session getting underway in Barcelona.
“It is one last chance to run the cars on track, to push reliability to the limit and to try and find some performance.
“That’s the situation for many teams but not for all of them.
“Of the 13 teams who signed up, or were induced to sign up, for this year’s championship, to date only 11 of them have heeded the call, turning up on track, some later than others, and while some have managed just a few hundred kilometres, others have done more, but at a much reduced pace.”
Going on to deride the state of Campos and US F1’s preparations in particular, Ferrari points the finger at Mosley for the state of turmoil that surrounds the new teams and implies that F1 would been far better off doing everything to ensure it retained a larger manufacturer presence.
“This is the legacy of the holy war waged by the former FIA president,” it added.
“The cause in question was to allow smaller teams to get into Formula 1.
“This is the outcome: two teams will limp into the start of the championship, a third [Campos] is being pushed into the ring by an invisible hand – you can be sure it is not the hand of Adam Smith – and, as for the fourth [US F1], well, you would do better to call on Missing Persons to locate it.
“In the meantime, we have lost two constructors along the way, in the shape of BMW and Toyota, while at Renault, there’s not much left other than the name. Was it all worth it?”
The financial health of Campos and US F1 projects have been under the spotlight for months but while the former is now confident it will make the grid, Ferrari remains openly sceptical about the Spanish-based team’s preparations.
Meanwhile, the Italian squad mocks the assurances made in public by US F1 in recent months, while mulling the rumours that surfaced surrounding the American squad last week.
“As for the twelfth team, Campos Meta, its shareholder and management structure has been transformed, according to rumours which have reached the Horse Whisperer through the paddock telegraph, with a sudden cash injection from a munificent white knight, well used to this sort of last minute rescue deal,” Ferrari said.
“However, the beneficiaries of this generosity might find the knight in question expects them to fulfil the role of loyal vassal.
“All this means, it is hard to imagine the Dallara designed car showing its face at the Catalunya Circuit, with Sakhir a more likely venue to witness the return of the Senna name to a Formula 1 session.
“The thirteenth team, USF1, appears to have gone into hiding in Charlotte, North Carolina, to the dismay of those like the Argentinean, [Jose Maria] Lopez, who thought he had found his way into the Formula 1 paddock, (albeit with help from chairwoman Kirchner, according to the rumours) and now has to start all over again.
“Amazingly, they still have the impudence to claim that everything is hunky-dory under the starry stripy sky.”
Ferrari also takes issue with the Serbian-based Stefan GP squad, which has been pushing ahead with preparations to join the grid despite not having an entry after buying the rights to the former Toyota team’s 2010 chassis and engine designs.
“Next, we have the Serbian vultures,” Ferrari concluded.
“Firstly, they launched themselves into a quixotic legal battle with the FIA, then they picked the bones of Toyota on its death bed.
“Having got some people on board, around whom there was still a whiff of past scandals, they are now hovering around waiting to replace whoever is first to drop out of the game, possibly with backing from that very same knight in shining armour whom we mentioned earlier.”See also:Ferrari blames exodus on FIA 'war'Ferrari mocks 'Formula GP3' prospect
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