Lewis Hamilton believes cost-cutting changes will make it “very tough” for him to repeat as Formula One champion next year.
Governing body FIA and the F1 teams agreed to a series of measures for 2009 last Friday, which include longer-lasting engines, limits on expensive testing and cheaper, off-the-shelf engines for smaller teams. “I don’t think it will make it easier,” Hamilton said. “With the new regulations it’s going to make it very tough to win the championship again.”
“We have less testing obviously but I think we as a team are in a position to pull together and make a difference in some other way,” Hamilton said. “But everyone’s in the same boat.”
Hamilton’s McLaren team boss Ron Dennis called it a “challenging period.”
“It’s amazing how many different things happen in a year but all we’re thinking about is how we can continue in the sport and continue to put on a good show,” Hamilton said. “How we can move forward and continue to win as a team.”
Team chairman Ron Dennis says McLaren is reducing costs by 30% in 2009 and up to another 20% in 2010 to brace for the impact of a global recession on Formula One.
“We’re first a sport but closely followed as a business,” Dennis said. “We can’t survive if our income is significantly less than our expenditures.”
“We can be pragmatic, but we will not cut into the fabric or DNA of F1,” Dennis said. “We don’t want to take measures that impact the size of the audience.”
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