Currency crisis hits F1
From F1-Live.com
Formula One teams stand to lose more than $100 million this season due to the diminishing value of the United States Dollar, according to a report.
Focus-Money, a German business magazine, predicts that this season's budget of the world championship-winning Ferrari team is $40 million lower in 2004.
It explains the deficit as due to contracts with financial-sponsors which stipulate payments to be made in the previously-steady American currency.
The publication continued that, due to the problem, F1 rivals McLaren and Renault stand to lose $25m each, BMW-Williams about $15m, and Sauber $10m.
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Compounding the problem is that F1 teams are being asked to spend more.
Sir Frank Williams, chief of the aforementioned Oxfordshire-based outfit, estimated the extra costs involved in racing in China and Bahrain at $1.8m.
'We do consume cash,' he told Autosport.
'Anybody who isn't worried about that is mad or completely out of touch.'