Ferrari and McLaren prepare for a costcutting 2009 F1 season

Stuttgart  - Ferrari will launch its new F2009 car for the 2009 Formula One season in Mugello Monday while main championship rival McLaren-Mercedes presents its car four days later in Woking.

Snow and sub-zero temperatures have forced Ferrari to switch its launch from Fiorano further south to Mugello and the cold winds of the global financial crisis are also being felt in the sport with costcutting now top of the agenda.

Earlier this week, the Formula One Teams Association (FOTA) unanimously agreed to a set of measures designed to reduce costs for this season by up to 30 per cent, making savings somewhere in the region of a billion euros (1.35 billion dollars).

The initiatives were decided with motorsport's ruling body FIA in December and include longer lasting engines and limitations on the use of wind tunnels.

More cutbacks are scheduled for 2010 with FOTA establishing a unified policy to develop and freeze low cost transmissions for the 2010-12 seasons and reaffirming their commitment to the supply of 5 million Euro engines to independent teams from that year.

"For our businesses, because we want to survive and because we want to make F1 stronger, I think it has been a wonderful catalyst," McLaren team boss Ron Dennis told www. autosport. com of the new sense of urgency among the members of FOTA.

It remains unclear whether nine or 10 teams will compete in 2009 as the former Honda F1 team is still in search of a buyer after the Japanese car manufacturer surprisingly withdrew from the sport last November.

Following Ferrari's launch on Monday, Toyota will have its 2009 presentation on Thursday, albeit a virtual one on the internet.

McLaren follow a day later, followed by Renault and Williams on January 19 in Portugal and BMW-Sauber on January 20 in Valencia.

Red Bull has scheduled its presentation for February 9 in Spain's Jerez. dpa

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