Formula One teams abandon joint launch plan

Formula One teams have jettisoned a cost-cutting plan to launch their 2010 cars publicly at the same time in Spain next month.

"It's been abandoned," one team source told Reuters on Wednesday. "There were not going to be enough cars ready by the date that would have suited all the teams."

The 13 teams had planned to present their new cars in Valencia at the end of January instead of the individual launches they have staged in the past.

Mercedes chief executive Nick Fry had talked of turning the joint launch into a public event, rather one than exclusively for the media and sponsors.

"I think it is another clear demonstration of how we are working together, we're not all just going off and doing our own individual launches. We can do something which is a lot more customer-friendly," he had said.

However Lotus F1 team principal Tony Fernandes said the proposed date would have been too early for his new team to have a track-ready car.

There were also fears that Ferrari, with Spain's double world champion Fernando Alonso, would have eclipsed the other teams at any joint launch in Spain.