Motorsports governing body FIA is "pursuing plans for a cost cap" on F1 team owners including Ferrari SpA, McLaren Group Ltd. and Red Bull GmbH, "even as some of their executives describe the idea as unworkable," according to Alex Duff of BLOOMBERG. FIA President Jean Todt said that the governing body would "employ teams of auditors to check that squads comply with the restrictions." Todt added that the FIA is "working on details of the proposed cap for next year." McLaren co-Owner Ron Dennis and Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner have said that "it's impossible to police the finances of teams because of the size and complexity of organizations" that spend as much as $620M a year on F1 and related businesses. Todt: "That was true in the past but I don’t think it’s true now." Todt said that F1 "needs financial controls to narrow the gap between the teams and to end a decades-old practice of some requiring drivers to bring sponsorship dollars to secure a racing berth." Dennis said last week that it was "pie in the sky" for the FIA to think it can "police how much, say, a Japanese team spends on research and development or racing-car components" (BLOOMBERG, 3/10).
