May 13 (GMM) The FIA, Bernie Ecclestone, expert pundits, the press and fans alike are unconvinced about Ferrari's threat to quit formula one at the end of the year.
The famous Italian team is enraged by the concept of low budget capping, and unimpressed by the sport's governance processes, warning on Tuesday that unless it all changes, they will not race in 2010."I'm not one to talk about perfect marriages," said F1 chief executive, who is going through a divorce with his wife Slavica, "but this is a perfect marriage."It's as simple as that and it is not going to change," he said on Tuesday."I hope Ferrari don't decide to go, something can be sorted and everyone will be happy but it won't be easy," added Ecclestone.FIA technical advisor Tony Purnell likened Ferrari's move to past instances of threatened "Armageddon" that failed to materialise."I'm optimistic," he is quoted as saying by The Sun. "Whenever change has been required the teams have cried Armageddon -- engine freeze, V10s to V8 and so on."On each occasion there were those who claimed F1 would fall apart. These experiences tend to make the FIA more resilient to all the hysteria," Purnell added.Mosley wasn't commenting, but sources close to the FIA president told London's Times newspaper that the Ferrari news was "received without any sense of alarm" because the threat is "neither unexpected nor likely to be followed through".Former team owner and now pundit for British TV Eddie Jordan dismissed the threat as political "posturing"."My guess is Ferrari will never go because they are linked to this, they are absolutely joined at the hip with formula one," the Irishman told Sky News. "It is their only marketing programme."A poll conducted by Italy's Gazzetta dello Sport showed that 62.4 per cent of fans believe Ferrari will be on next year's grid, while Britain's The Guardian published a poll showing that 49.6 per cent believe F1 can survive without the Scuderia.
