FIA president Jean Todt says F1 has a "very strong future" after the financial crisis which had threatened it last year.
FIA president happy in the wake of turbulent times
FIA president Jean Todt says Formula One has a "very strong future" after the financial crisis which had threatened it last year.
The 2009 season got under way with Honda having announced its withdrawal the previous December and fellow manufacturers BMW and Toyota both following by the year's end.
All three blamed the global financial downturn for their exits - a situation which led Todt's predecessor Max Mosley to try and drive through a budget cap to force teams to cut spending.
They in turn responded with plans for a breakaway series and the threat eventually worked, with Mosley backing down and the teams themselves drawing up the current 'resource restriction agreement'.
The departing manufacturers were replaced on the grid by the much smaller Lotus, Virgin and Hispania teams and with F1 seemingly having weathered the storm, Todt is delighted with the outcome.
"It's very difficult if you are a very powerful manufacturer like BMW, Honda, Toyota," said the former Ferrari team principal, who succeeded Mosley a year ago.
"Incidentally, none of them were very successful, so when you spend a huge amount of money without success, it's probably easier when you have to decide where and how to invest.
"Last Friday I visited Honda, and the R&D development and all they are doing for their new cars is amazing, so they are definitely leaders.
"But it must be very painful for a company like that, when you are a leader in new technologies, not to have been able to have been a leader in Formula One, so it probably helped them to make a decision.
"Saying that three new teams have arrived, they are doing well for the first year, even if none of them have scored points, but they are respectable teams.
"They have demonstrated to be very brave to get into the business, but lots of teams and drivers have started by being uncompetitive before going to an upper level.
"We now have 12 teams participating in Formula One, which I feel is a good number.
"Hopefully we are at the end of the big economic crisis, and I think 12 teams in Formula One is quite an encouraging result."
Careful
Todt thinks F1 is taking the right measures to make sure it remains viable as and when another recession occurs.
"We live in a fragile world, so we must never take anything for granted," he added.
"And with all the respect and passion I have for Formula One, it is not essential for society.
"So we have to be careful because you have other things that could be more essential, and that is why you have to find the right limits to be applied.
"I'm sure Formula One has a very strong future because let's not forget it is amongst the most important sports on the planet.
"It is extraordinary what Formula One means, and the fascination around it, but as I've said we cannot take it for granted.
"Bernie (Ecclestone) and (commercial rights holders) CVC know that, and on behalf of the FIA, we know that."
