Ferrari boss happy with cost-cutting meeting

As part of cost cutting measures, engines will be used for three races rather than two.

TURIN // The Ferrari President Luca di Montezemolo has said he was pleased by a meeting with the Formula One's governing body on future cost-cutting measures. Montezemolo, who is also the Formula One Teams Association (FOTA) president, met the International Automobile Federation (FIA) boss Max Mosley and Toyota's John Howett in Geneva to discuss ways of bringing costs down. "Finally we will have an economical Formula One," Montezemolo said. "Next year we will lengthen the life of engines to three races (from the current two). This will translate into a total of 25 engines that for the smaller teams will cost ?10 million (Dhs47.6m) a season."

Mosley said this month that, even without the global credit crunch, the sport had become unsustainable at the current level of spending and faced serious problems if costs were not slashed by 2010. The season-ending Grand Prix takes place in Brazil next week at Interlagos and a further meeting between the teams and the FIA is planned after the race. "We have decided with President Mosley that we will meet again after Brazil to talk again about limits to the chassis and engines in the future," Montezemolo added.

McLaren's Lewis Hamilton leads Ferrari's Felipe Massa by seven points heading into the Brazilian Grand Prix but Montezemolo was quietly confident his driver could snatch the title, just like Kimi Raikkonen did last season. "We have lost lots of chances, but we are still there. We hope to score a penalty in the 90th minute," he said. *Reuters Have your say: Do you think these cost-cutting measures will help bring the cost down? Should there be a cap on the cost of running a car for the season. Leave your thoughts below.