Q: John, any specifics?
JH: I don’t really want to go into specifics. I think they are unique to each team. I think the meeting which we have been invited to was really following the meeting between Luca di Montezemolo and Max Mosley. I think that the teams have a lot of ideas to actually save money but at the same time not destroy the core DNA or value of Formula One. I think that given a constructive discussion and hopefully shall we say using the current environment of ‘financial crisis’, people could take a political advantage and try to apply unnecessary pressure and hopefully for once we can put politics behind these discussions and really focus on the facts, the real issues and then we will find, I am sure, good solutions.

Q: Nick has come up with certain specific areas. Is it not possible for you to do so?
JH: Yeah, of course. I mean fundamentally, I am sure teams can say without changing anything, which is what we do regularly by good value added engineering, actually reducing production processes by standardizing tooling, you can make massive savings. That is one issue which absolutely has no impact whatsoever on even the current regulation. If you look at it, this coming year, ironically, we are faced with a totally new aerodynamics package which means the concept of the car changes completely and we integrate KERS, so we are facing, if you like, an environment where cost saving is relevant but all the regulatory changes are technically forcing cost upwards. My position would be, there are a lot of concrete ideas but we need to have a cohesive, focussed unpolitical discussion using facts and we will find a simple solution.

Q: Mario?
MT: Not much to add really. In my view the ongoing discussions under the umbrella of FOTA are very constructive, the most constructive I have seen in Formula One because it is clear to all of the teams that we have to do something, we have to achieve something and it only works if we come to a joint proposal. There are several technical working groups, one for the car and another one on the power train or the engine itself and the commercial and sporting working group, lots of good ideas. I am sure within a few weeks or months we will be able to come up with proposals which will really make a difference to what we see today in terms of costs, in terms of improving the spectacle and the commercial viability of Formula One.

Q: Any specific areas?
MT: We could talk for hours about specific areas. As I said the engine working group in my view is making very good progress which wasn’t possible in the past. They have framed the concept of a future engine, the next generation engine, they are thinking through how we could get there and in what time, could we take any intermediate steps on the current engine like extending its life to three race weekends in order to help the independent teams. Things like this. On the car side there are lots of ideas as well. Personally I was a bit surprised that the idea of a budget cap was buried so early this year. I think there would be potential. And on the commercial and sporting side there are ideas as well.

Q: Hiroshi, what sort of progress is being made on the slick tyres? How are you going to let us know which is the softer tyre and which is going to be the harder tyre?
HY: The regulations are going to change, I believe, to slick tyres. But fortunately we have much experience with slick tyres in Indy Cars and Formula 3000, the many categories we are supporting. Our engineers have lots of experience. If you compare the same tyre – groove tyre and slick tyre – slick tyre life is longer than groove tyres which means you can put on a little bit more softer rubber.