Motor racing-Toyota wary of knee-jerk response to credit crisis

By Alastair Himmer

FUJI, Japan, Oct 10 (Reuters) - Any rushed response to the global credit crisis could do Formula One more harm than good, Toyota motorsport president John Howett said on Friday.

"I think that the danger is that a knee-jerk reaction could be catastrophic," he told a news conference at the Japanese Grand Prix.

"In the end, if we have pressure, we will be told that's the budget and we will survive."

International Automobile Federation (FIA) president Max Mosley said this week that the manufacturer-dominated sport faced serious problems and needed urgent cost-cutting measures in place for 2010.

Mosley is due to sit down with the 10 teams, some of whom have budgets estimated to be in excess of $400 million a year at a time when many car companies are suffering dwindling sales and sinking share prices, after this month's Chinese Grand Prix.

Formula One's commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone has suggested introducing a standard engine for all 10 teams, with each unit designed to last for half a season.

Howett, whose team are reckoned to have the biggest budget of anyone in the paddock, said the situation needed to be put into context.

"If you look at some of the figures released for the English Premier League in terms of teams' liquidity, the issues being faced by F1 teams are relatively minor," he said.