FIA president Max Mosley has gone on record ti state that an urgent and drastic cost cut is the need of the hour if the sport has to be saved beyond 2009.

“It’s by far the biggest (crisis) since I’ve been involved in the late ’60s,” Mosley told a small group of reporters. “The situation today is much worse than it was on Dec. 10.”

On that date, FIA and the Formula One Teams Association agreed to a wide-ranging series of changes that included employing longer-lasting engines, a ban on in-season testing and the biggest set of aerodynamic modifications in 26 years.

“The scope for getting the costs down is huge and we can get the cost down further even than the ($64 million) and no one except for a real anorak in the pit lane would know the difference,” Mosley said.

The governing body of Formula One wants to implement further cost-cutting savings by 2010 with teams running on a 50-million euro (C$78.9 million) budget.

FIA sent all teams a detailed document proposing defined regulation changes and a budget decrease that could mean a drop of up to 75 per cent for the larger manufacturers.

The paper calls for the KERS energy recovery system to be used by all teams, as well as standardized parts such as gearboxes, braking systems, suspensions and wheels. Manufacturers would also be obliged to supply technology to independent teams at a capped price should it wish to develop its own systems.

From 2010, independent teams can also purchase a standard gearbox-engine for five million euros (C$7.9 million) that would last for six races.