Former FIA President Max Mosley said that F1 teams "should be given almost total rules freedom to design their car in exchange for signing up to a budget cap," according to AUTOSPORT. Ahead of a crunch meeting of F1's Strategy Group in May, F1 chiefs are "trying to find ways to keep both big money manufacturers and the smaller outfits happy." Cost cut efforts in recent years have failed. The idea of a budget cap has been around for several years, but recent plans for a universal introduction were "rejected last year following opposition from the big teams." Mosley's idea is that in exchange for signing up to a budget cap, teams are then "given much more freedom technically to come up with the quickest car." Mosley said, "I could imagine that very soon all the teams would be in the camp of the budget cap. They would realize that for $100 million you could have great motorsport and build technically advanced cars." F1 is "facing increased pressure to address the costs and entertainment issue on the back of falling audience figures" (AUTOSPORT, 4/28).
