Ferrari clears air over F1 quitting scare, says it was all a misunderstanding

British media publication The Guardian had earlier reported that Ferrari could consider quitting F1 if the budget cap was lowered further. The Italian supercar manufacturer has now cleared the air over the headline, which has been changed since.

According to a report in Racefans, Ferrari issued a statement clarifying the claim made by team principle Mattia Binotto. The article in The Guardian suggested that Binotto hinted at quitting F1 if budget caps were imposed.

“The $145m level is already a new and demanding request compared to what was set out last June,” Binotto told the Guardian. “It cannot be attained without further significant sacrifices, especially in terms of our human resources. If it was to get even lower, we would not want to be put in a position of having to look at other further options for deploying our racing DNA.”

Ferrari said Binotto’s statement did not mean that the team was looking at quitting the races altogether.

“He said that we would not want to be put in a position of having to look at further options, besides continuing racing in F1, for deploying our racing DNA, in case the budget cap would be even more drastically reduced, putting at risk hundreds of workplaces,” the statement read.

The headline in The Guardian upon publishing was, “Ferrari prepared to quit F1 if budget cap imposed, warns Mattia Binotto”, and has been changed to “Ferrari to evaluate F1 future if budget cap imposed, warns Binotto.”