Richards admits BAR could be forced out of Britain

Richards at launch
By Phil Huff (01/02/2004)
February 1 2004

Lucky Strike BAR Honda's team principal, David Richards, has stated that he could be forced to relocate the team outside of Britain unless the government resolve problems with new anti-tobacco legislation.

Speaking at the launch of the new BAR 006, David Richards explained "Ferrari are the best-financed team in F1, they are based in Italy and have an American cigarette sponsor and so they will be able to advertise in places like China, but because we are a British team we will be covered by the British legislation and so we would not be able to run tobacco advertising in China.

"It's a ludicrous situation," he added. "The UK government should not countenance it and it's down to them to do something about it. But I really do not know how this is going to work out.

"It's a major concern to me," stressed Richards, "and it should be a major concern to everyone involved in Formula One now because the knock-on effect will be significant.

"It could have serious consequences because it will effect our planned income stream for 2005. We would have to consider cutbacks in the team or look at other alternatives like moving the team abroad. You couldn't move the actual structure but you could move parts of the team abroad.

Richards does concede that the new laws were not drafted to cause difficulties for F1. "The legislation was intended to protect British nationals against the excesses of tobacco advertising," he explains. "It was not intended to have an impact of British F1 teams taking part in a race in China. I have spoken to the Department of Trade & Industry and they say this was not the intention when the legislation was drafted. It is the way it has been written which is so restrictive."