Ferrari cost cap call is Camilleri’s and board, says Arrivabene

Ferrari team principal Maurizio Arrivebene says the principles of Formula 1’s projected cost cap is something the Italian manufacturer agrees on but any final decision will rest with new CEO Louis C. Camilleri and the board.

Since the proposal of an F1 cost cap, estimated to be set at $150m from 2021, the idea has been received with a mixed reception with strong backers from McLaren and Renault while Ferrari along with Mercedes and Red Bull have predicted potential job cuts to reach the cost targets.

With the projected cost cap set to be introduced at the end of the ongoing Concorde Agreement, Arrivabene says Ferrari’s standpoint will be decided by its reformed board of directors following the death of Sergio Marchionne.

With Louis C. Camilleri coming in as Chief Executive Officer and John Elkann named as Chairman, Ferrari faces a potential new direction, Arrivabene says the core agreement of reducing F1 costs is something Ferrari shares with the sport’s owners Liberty Media.

“I spoke with our CEO and everybody, they want to save money,” Arrivabene said. “To reduce the costs, not to save money, they are two different things.

“It depends how you do it. The decision is not mine because it is going to be a strategic decision that is involving the overall group. If accepting an agreement that is not taking into consideration where Ferrari is in the market and the DNA of Ferrari, it’s a strategic decision and it’s not under my responsibility.

“I give all the information we discuss about this but he is the person that is going to talk with the appropriate people.”

Regardless of the route to a cost cap, Arrivabene is confident of finding a solution which suits all parties in F1 without threatening the future of the sport.

“The question is not the ‘what’, it’s based on the ‘how’,” he said. “How do we want to do it? How do we want to maintain Formula 1 at the pinnacle of motorsport as it is? How do we want to continue to develop cars that are beautiful, also for the public.

“It’s not an easy equation. Everybody, they go sometimes their way but I think at the end we can find the solution.

“I was looking at the car presented a couple of days ago by Ross. It’s a good exercise, I was asking our engineers what they thought about this, they said it’s a bit underwhelming in their opinion and it looks like an old champ car. But, you know, it’s an exercise.

“Sometimes we go up here to have this kind of result. I think this is the game that everybody plays.”

During the Singapore Grand Prix race weekend, Arrivabene said he will take full responsibility for any mistakes made by his team amid its continued battle against Mercedes in the 2018 F1 world championship.