Branson saddened by Ferrari criticism

Date published : 27 Feb 2010 - 11:58:04

Virgin F1 chief Sir Richard Branson has described Ferrari's belittling of the new teams in Formula One as "a bit sad".

In a column on their official website Ferrari described Virgin Racing and Lotus Racing, the two new teams which have tested these past few weeks, as "limping into the start of the championship." The column added the third team, Campos, "is being pushed into the ring by an invisible hand, and as for the fourth (US F1), well, you would do better to call on missing persons to locate it."

In response, entrepreneur Branson told Autosport: "I think that it is a bit sad to see Ferrari carrying on with those kinds of words. F1 needs new teams, and Ferrari won the battle of making sure the new teams were shackled."

He added: "For testing, we built a new car and we are going to have to have exactly the same amount of practice time as Brawn (Mercedes GP) or Ferrari or the others, who have had years and years and years to get their cars to a certain stage.

"We are not complaining about it, and we are happy to go on with it, but Ferrari should be welcoming new teams because they make the sport much more exciting.

"And we will make them look better for a year or two until we catch them up.

"Ultimately, I think the new teams will give Ferrari a run for their money and I think it will make the sport more exciting, particularly as the budgets come down to more realistic levels."