Mission Furlough

[roon]

Premise: If the red team were to sit out a season or two, this would force a rules change to avoid the silver team claiming all P1 & P2 points, or, upon completion of one such season the silver team may choose to exit the sport whereafter rule changes may occur. After either scenario the red team could choose to return to a potentially more favorable environment.

More generally, if Ferrari left, would Mercedes stay?

Further supposition: Merc need Ferrari, but Ferrari do not need Merc.

[Maplesoup]

What would they do with all their employees who work on the f1 project for 2 years? I imagine they'd lose 90% of them and then it would be impossible to re enter the competition. Bare in mind most of the work they do is bespoke to F1 there aren't any other racing series that require as much R&D as F1.

If they left they wouldn't be able to come back and would end up like Renault. They could perhaps buy one of the other teams to build upon I suppose.

[Just_a_fan]

Mercedes don't need Ferrari. Mercedes are in it to win it and don't care who they beat. Beating RedBull is just as good for them as beating Ferrari. It's not Mercedes fault that they're doing a better job than the others.

Suggestion: make Ferrari compete on the same playing field as everyone else. No special money (for any of them), no veto. Just prize money for points earned. Stop treating Ferrari as something different and maybe they knuckle down to winning.

Suggestion 2: go back to a grid full of "garagista", no manufacturer teams - and that includes Ferrari. If manufacturers want to compete against each other, go compete in sport car or touring car championships. That leaves F1 to pure racing teams.

[Mr. Fahrenheit]

Did Ferrari not already sit out seasons 2014/2015/2016 ?

[Jolle]

First, it’s impossible for Ferrari to leave, they have a contract that they have to. The right holders wouldn’t allow for them to take a sabbatical of any kind. They could pull out after 2020 by not signing up for a new period but then they definitely would forfeit all their bonuses, veto rights and licensing agreements. Even when they aren’t winning, F1 is a very profitable business for big red.

What they could do, is build a terrible car, have two “Luca Badoer’s” and use this time and recourses to build a killing ‘21 car.

Mercedes doesn’t need Ferrari, but Ferrari needs Formula one and visa versa.

And if Ferrari would take it slow for a year of two, they would definitely loose PM. Ferrari would get on the same trajectory as McLaren since 2012. A nice midfielder (again).