2010 regulation row on £40m budget cap

[ISLAMATRON]

Have any of us mentioned the possiblity that the current teams could possibly be fighting so hard about the 2 tier series because they DONT Want new teams in F1? The more teams there are the smaller the FOM slice of the pie they each get... they are already complaining that they dont get enough of the TV revenue, and it is about to get smaller as 4 teams have already announced plans to bid for the 3 new spots.

[u401768]

to pinch someone else comment - putting on tin foil hat....but do we really believe this is the end of the saga, or could we see a Mr J Todd being push forward for the head of the FIA, and a vote of no confidence for Mr M? After all thats how he got in there in the first place (but it was at election time at the FIA)

[WhiteBlue]

James Allan speculates:

They still have the ultimate sanction at their disposal, which is to leave F1. I still think this would hurt F1 more than it would hurt Ferrari, but perhaps only in the short to medium term.

And for a guide to the importance of Ferrari to Ecclestone and the FIA, you need only consider the implications of this veto, over which the court case was fought. The team was so important to Mosley and Ecclestone in 2005 that they were prepared to give one team special powers and rights, which were denied to others. How much has the business case changed, on which that decision was based? And how far has the attitude behind it changed?

I believe the now famous 2005 "Ferrari veto" was nothing more than the prolongation of their veto right under the Concord. The FIA wanted to go to majority voting and needed a spear head against the GPMA. So they simply promised Ferrari they would keep status quo while all other teams would fall back to majority voting. Bloody cheaky but simple in terms of thinking by Ferrari.

It will make their live in FOTA a lot more difficult that they had to go public on that and lost against Mosley in court. With some well thought out compromises the FIA might be able to get more teams to sign up. Logic would tell that they will go for Mateschitz. He is not interested in money but wants the FOTA to take commercial control. Difficult to please him.

[b0son]

The main problem I see is that the teams capitulating to the FIA is a bit like believing the bully that says he wont be back for more if you give him $1 this week.

[xpensive]

A little difficult to picture Ferrari in F1 next year under a 40 MEUR budget after this mess, no?

[gibells]

Ferrari to be replaced next year by Campos GP.

Good Grief, even in my limited Spanish I know that campo means countryside. Don't worry, F1 is going to be alright, here come the cowboys. Need I say more?!

[gcdugas]

Ferrari scoffed at the 2010 new team entry list and rightly so. Have you seen it?

I see this ruling as very bad because Max hasn't been checked, and now he can't be checked in the future. This holds zero appeal for any of the manufacturers. Perhaps finally we will see a new series emerge. Right now Bernie is going full out to prevent the two tiered system but can he prevent it? And even if he does which team would want to race in a series run by an out of control Max Mosley?

I look forward to a statement of "all is normal now" from Max and also from Bernie. I wouldn't believe either of them. Ferrari are gone unless Max rescinds the two tiered system. How can he do that? What present manufacturer is going to go along with a 40M euro budget low-tech, low-cache, low-rent, spec series? Either they set up a rival series or they go to LMP. Is CVC publicly traded? Can I short their stock because I see it plummeting.

On the sporting side, there is a greater possibility of a break away series than ever before and that isn't too bad.

[u401768]

with the situation going out of control - what happens if none of the FOTA teams enter? And is this a posability?

Alonso is worried!!:- http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/75445

[silverwood]

What a mess, honestly what is "Mad Max" thinking. these are the big names in the business, as a fan i want to see what the likes of BMW, Ferrari, McClaren (Mercs), Renualt can do with all the resources they have. if there willing to spend more than 40M surely let them do it? if other teams dont think they can challange then dont...

Making F1 exclusive is better than letting any old team in...
Aston Martin
Honda
lamborghini
Jaguar

The BIG BIG names in this business, if there is to be a cap surely only letting certain teams in to make F1 still exclusive is going to keep other high profile teams in it.

[gcdugas]

with the situation going out of control - what happens if none of the FOTA teams enter? And is this a posability?

Alonso is worried!!:- http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/75445

I can only hope none of them enter and that they finally break away. Let Max have his budget spec racer series and let the men race elsewhere.

[jamsbong]

If FIA allow the big teams to go away next year then I will loose interest in this sport for good.

After loosing Schumi, I felt F1 has never been that attractive. Now, the situation has gone worse. How can FIA do this? they overhaul the rules for 2009 then enforce the team's economy the following year.

Is like, you need to develop a new car for competition in 2009. That means spending lots of money to make it right. before the year is up, you can now only spend little money to improve the car. That just means, the teams with the head start will always have the advantage i.e. Brawn and RedBull.

Ferrari is an important symbol for F1. I remember the days when Ferrari weren't winning races but yet they still stir up excitement whenever they lead the race (for a brief moment). F1 will loose tons and tons of audience if Ferrari is gone and I will not watch F1 anymore.

[ernos5]

I really hope now, being a Ferrari supporter that those teams who wanted to pull out do so, leaving all those new teams to play around with each other next year.

The teams that pull out make their own championship with V10's!!! [-o< and faster than 2004. Then everybody would watch that, and Ecclestone will be sacked as he won't have no viewers, Mosley will be sacked for f#$king up the pinnacle of auto racing.


"The only thing I can say on this, How many times do we see a sea of red amongst the supporters.......... What if that sea of red was not there.." Saunder

[Scotracer]

I really hope now, being a Ferrari supporter that those teams who wanted to pull out do so, leaving all those new teams to play around with each other next year.

The teams that pull out make their own championship with V10's!!! [-o< and faster than 2004. Then everybody would watch that, and Ecclestone will be sacked as he won't have no viewers, Mosley will be sacked for f#$king up the pinnacle of auto racing.


"The only thing I can say on this, How many times do we see a sea of red amongst the supporters.......... What if that sea of red was not there.." Saunder

With the changes you are proposing, it would barely make a difference to the average viewer. I bet if you asked most casual F1 fans they wouldn't be able to tell the difference. They still go fast (and you cannot with the naked eye see the 2009 cars slower than 2004) and make a lot of noise.

I'm just worried about a break-away series ala Indycar/Champcar which destroyed the sport. Yes Champcar was good for some years but it really did die on its feet. Also I hope they aren't irresponsible enough to have super-relaxed regulations which then encourages speeds beyond anything we've seen before (albeit that's what the 2010 regs for F1 are suggesting).

[ernos5]

I really hope now, being a Ferrari supporter that those teams who wanted to pull out do so, leaving all those new teams to play around with each other next year.

The teams that pull out make their own championship with V10's!!! [-o< and faster than 2004. Then everybody would watch that, and Ecclestone will be sacked as he won't have no viewers, Mosley will be sacked for f#$king up the pinnacle of auto racing.


"The only thing I can say on this, How many times do we see a sea of red amongst the supporters.......... What if that sea of red was not there.." Saunder

With the changes you are proposing, it would barely make a difference to the average viewer. I bet if you asked most casual F1 fans they wouldn't be able to tell the difference. They still go fast (and you cannot with the naked eye see the 2009 cars slower than 2004) and make a lot of noise.

I'm just worried about a break-away series ala Indycar/Champcar which destroyed the sport. Yes Champcar was good for some years but it really did die on its feet. Also I hope they aren't irresponsible enough to have super-relaxed regulations which then encourages speeds beyond anything we've seen before (albeit that's what the 2010 regs for F1 are suggesting).

Speed beyond what we've seen before would definitely make F1 more interesting. That's what we need, faster cars. After all you can't call this the pinnacle of motor sport then. Yes the V8's are pretty loud, but on TV they put the volume of the cars right down so you can't hear the cars, just the commentators blabbing on about the obvious aspects of the race.

F1 is already fast enough to be called dangerous. But it's not life threatening, look how safe the cars are! Faster cars would definitely be more exciting, especially seeing how the drivers cope with these cars and which ones would be willing to take risks. They get paid so much, might as well make it risky and worth it.

[Giblet]

If the cars keep getting quicker, the runoff of the courses, including the multi million dollar super tracks that Tilke keeps pumping out, will not be long enough for a car to stop safely, and deaths will occur.

If Kubica's crash was any faster in Canada. Like even 10 MPH, he would likely have no feet right now. Kubica was very lucky that his feet and ankles were dangling out the front of the car, and he was OK. Since he survived, everyone moved on to the next thing, as we all applauded the cars safety. He was "this close" to dead.

The key is to learn from lessons in the past, and what we learned was if you let the engineers keep developing the cars under the same rules, they will become too quick, and drivers will die. No amount of car excitement can or should be traded in for a drivers life. The rate of development is too high now, and unfortunately the rules need to keep being tweaked to keep the speeds in corners from growing too much year to year.

That being said, I miss the V10's a little bit, but like many other great things, they will be forever remembered and respected, like the V12 Ferrari, V8 DFV, and the 1.5l TC Engines.