Struggling new F1 teams can miss 3 races: Todt

ERIC GAILLARD/REUTERS

FIA President Jean Todt, seen at an FIA meeting in Monaco before Christmas, said today new team sin the F1 series can miss up to three races without penalty. REUTERS/Eric Gaillard (MONACO SPORT TRANSPORT)

REUTERS NEWS AGENCY

MILAN—Formula One’s new entrants will be allowed to miss the first three races of the season and avoid punishment, International Automobile Federation (FIA) president Jean Todt said Tuesday.

F1 commercial chief Bernie Ecclestone has consistently said he does not expect U.S. F1 and Campos to be ready for the season-opening race in Bahrain on March 14.

“In the last draft of the Concorde agreement it’s written that a team can skip three races,” Todt, who has replaced Max Mosley as world motorsport head, told a media briefing in Paris.

U.S. F1 and Campos, two of four completely new teams this season, have so far both named only one of their two drivers.

They have yet to launch their cars, missed the first test in Valencia last week and will skip this week’s session in Jerez.

Former Spanish driver Adrian Campos has said he hopes to settle the future of his new team this week, having already signed Brazilian Bruno Senna, nephew of the late Ayrton.

Tony Teixeira, the boss of the A1 GP series, told Reuters last month he was in talks to buy into Campos while Serbia’s Stefan GP say they are all but ready to replace a failed new team and have Ecclestone as a backer.

Todt remains cautious, however.

“If one of them doesn’t make it, it doesn’t mean another team comes in. It’s up to the FIA to decide if they have the credentials,” the former Ferrari chief said.

Virgin have already launched their car and fellow new team Lotus are set to unveil theirs on Friday, after Red Bull’s presentation at the Jerez test on Wednesday.

Todt also said he was against Mosley’s budget cap which caused much anger among teams last year but wanted to continue to reduce costs, although he supported the expensive KERS energy recovery system which has been dropped this year.

He said he would serve only one term as FIA president, joking that he was not paid enough, and expressed surprise that a Paris court had overturned the FIA’s life ban on former Renault boss Flavio Briatore for fixing the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix.

Bernie saw this coming.

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