Ferrari defends F1 engine supply cost-cap veto

A plan agreed by teams and the FIA to introduce a price ceiling on engines has had to be canned because Ferrari exercised a long-held veto it has on the introduction of new rules.

It was a move that has prompted the FIA to begin evaluating plans for an independent supplier to provide a standard cheap engine.

Speaking at the Mexican Grand Prix, Ferrari team principal Maurizio Arrivabene said that the only motivation for exercising the veto in this case was to protect its commercial interests, because it would dramatically cuts the profit it gets from supply engines.

"Concerning the veto, it is quite easy," he said. "We exercised our veto in line with our legitimate commercial right to do business as a power train manufacturer. There is nothing else to add."

When pushed on how Ferrari could justify its moves on the back of huge profits it makes, Arrivabene said: "Why do I have to justify more? We are talking about commercial rights, we are not talking about budgets or anything else.

"If somebody asks to give you a specification to produce something, you produce it in line with the specification. And then if somebody wants to impose a price on that, what are you going to do?"

Cost controls

Despite a move that forces customer teams to still pay top dollar for engines, Arrivabene said Ferrari was not blind to the cost issues his smaller rivals face.

"It is not a position against the other teams, it is a position defending the commercial principle. For the rest, we are open to finding any other solution.

"As a public company as we are now, like Mercedes is too, there are R&D costs that somehow you have to recover. I don't find any commercial entity that gives their product for free or at cost. This is the principle."