‘Constructive’ talks but no ruling on budget cap

The Formula 1 team bosses reportedly had a “constructive” meeting on Thursday but did not agree to a reduced budget cap, at least not yet.

Not for the first time since theAustralian Grand Prixwas cancelled and it became clear that the Formula 1 season would not get underway as planned, the team bossed held a telephone conference with F1 chief Chase Carey and the FIA’s Jean Todt to discuss the sport’s future.

The hot topic, once again, was the budget cap.

The cap is set to come into being next season and, at least for now, is written into the rules as $175m.

The teams have all agreed to lower than to $150m, although some are pushing to reduce that even further to $100m as fears that some teams may not survive the financial crisis continue to grow.

The top three, Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull, are pushing back as such a dramatic cut to their massive budgets means staff will lose jobs.

They have proposeda two-tier capor a sliding scale, one that applies toteams developing parts and another for customer teams.

Another proposal on the table is for a $145m cap in 2021 that will drop to $130m a year later.

According toAutosport, Thursday’s talks were said to be “constructive” but no deal was forthcoming.

The team bosses will e-meet again on Friday.

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