DECEMBER 4, 1995

...Forti to follow

IT is quite likely that the Forti Corse F1 team - which entered F1 this year with Pedro Diniz and Roberto Moreno - will not be seen in Grand Prix racing next year.

IT is quite likely that the Forti Corse F1 team - which entered F1 this year with Pedro Diniz and Roberto Moreno - will not be seen in Grand Prix racing next year. The team was heavily dependent on money from the Diniz Family, and with the Brazilian driver having informed the team that he intends to take his money elsewhere in 1996, Forti seems to be struggling to find the cash to survive. While quite a few drivers have budgets of $2-4 million, there are very few with the kind of money necessary to run a team properly, and with the new 107% qualifying rules and only the outdated - and relatively expensive - Cosworth ED V8 engines available to customer teams, F1 is less attractive than ever for the little teams. The loss of Forti, if it happens, could mean that F1 will have only 20 cars on the grid in 1996, the lowest since the late 1960s. The F1 bosses do not seem to be particularly worried about this as TV is what pays and one rarely sees the backmarkers during the telecasts.