F1 Cost-Cutting Agreement Stalls

A cost-cutting agreement between Formula One teams has hit problems with the top teams unwilling to control their spending according to Mercedes GP principal Ross Brawn.

Each f1 team ratified the Resource Restriction Agreement (RRA) to help smaller outfits to survive at a time of global financial crisis in 2008 and early 2009. It expires in 2012.

It has been widely, and regularly, speculated some teams are not abiding to the rules or are finding ways to disguise their real spending.

Brawn, whose  team has made  high-profile technical signings recently and have Michael Schumacher as a driver, said: “I think it’s at a crossroads because it’s now starting to bite those three or four teams who have to control their resource to comply. I think there’s seven or eight teams for whom the RRA means nothing because they’re always going to be below the limit.”

Brawn stated the problem with the agreement was that it had not been structured well enough to include sufficient checks and reassurances in place.

Brawn believes the system leads to innuendo and accusations.

He said: “We’re total supporters of the idea of RRA, but for us it has to be much more robust in how it’s controlled, how it’s monitored, how it’s policed, because it’s a performance differentiator.

“You can’t deny that a team spending five million more each year will have an advantage over a team that doesn’t.”