Ferrari: F1 cost cap idea 'obscene'

Despite a majority of teams voting in favour of the idea of capping prices on current customer engines at 12 million Euros, the matter had to be dropped after Ferrari exercised a long-standing rules veto.

Ferrari's decision to step in has left FIA president Todt frustrated, but Marchionne has hit out at the idea of the governing body getting involved in the finances of teams.

"Thinking that the FIA and FOM can pass to the engine manufacturer the obligation and the financial responsibility to finance (subsidise) their engines to other teams, I consider it an obscene concept," said Marchionne, during a visit to the Ferrari Finali Mondiali in Mugello."

Moral obligations

Marchionne thinks it wrong for anyone to suggest it is up to the manufacturers to help ensure that the smaller teams on the grid can survive.

"I believe Jean Todt is looking for a solution, but I think that Ferrari cannot be considered incoherent regarding the development of their power unit," he said. "This has to be resolved with Ecclestone and the others.

"It is not a Ferrari problem and the idea that we could have a moral obligation to provide the engines… it's on the limit. And the same goes for imposing price limits on those power units.

"If somebody would know the costs involved in the development, the prices we talk about don't even cover spark plugs. This is outside any industrial and corporate logic."

Long-term solution

However, despite being adamant that the responsibility for a solution should not be shouldered by the car makers, he believes that some kind of compromise to keep all parties happy should be readied within the next two years.

"It's important for 2017," he said. "For 2016, everything has been pretty much agreed. The important thing now is to agree on 2017."