jimsgarage

Formula None

It is like a bad dream.  FIA, Formula One’s sanctioning body is at odds with FOTA, Formula One Team Association.  FIA president Max Mosely is trying to stick with the idea of a budget cap and FOTA is resisting. 

The big boys in Formula One; Brawn, Ferrari, McLaren, Renault, BMW, Toyota, Red Bull, Scuderia Toro, say no to budget caps and are now planning on establishing their own series.

Didn’t we live through something similar with IRL and CART?  And how did that turn out?

Jackie Stewart has stepped in saying that Bernie Ecclestone should use his leverage as holder of commercial rights to F1 and bring the teams back into the series.

Meanwhile this year’s F1 competition continues with the British GP being held at Silverstone for the last time.

I think they should all take the weekend off and think about just what the concept of a Formula One championship should really mean.  They should think about how it all started and where is the true meaning of the series.

F1 has gone through various rules changes over the decades of its existence.  Some for better and some for worse.  I would hate for it to become a spec series as has happened to Indy racing and NASCAR. 

It would be nice to see Formula 1 as a showcase of driving talent and not pit stop strategy.  It would be nice to see automotive technology that didn’t have to be supported by $100,000,000 budgets either.

I doubt we can return to the days when cars wore the country’s colors and the car’s number and the drivers’ suits only had their name and blood type.  But surely there can be a way for such a championship to exist without the winner being only determined by the depth of a bank account.

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2 responses to “Formula None”

  1. Formula None | Cars….

    […] Original post by Jim’s Garage […]

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  2. Esteban Avatar
    Esteban

    Jim,

    I too long for the days when driver skill was the thing and there was more of a sense of “adventure” and less of a sense of “business” in the category, but those days are gone.

    Formula 1 has always been about the cutting edge. In driving and in technology. That will not change. That should not change.

    Still, drivers can make a difference, or else Shummi, Alonso, Hamilton would not get their juicy paychecks at the end of the season. You can see how much impact a driver has when comparing *regular* teammates with *stars*.

    I don’t know where this 2 categories nonesense is going to lead. It certainly isn’t the first time the scuderias make the claim they want their own circus. And it will not be the first time Bernie (who reminds me of a roman Caesar) gets the whip out and gets the herd back in place.

    There is a lot of $$ involved. And Bernie still has the handle on that. Never underestimate the power of money (and TV rights).

    For the time being it is almost race time, we’ll see if Brawn GP keeps the winning spree (That is another example of how a man can have a HUGE impact, that Ross Brawn could pull THAT stunt is simply amazing… maybe we should do a collab post on that 🙂 )

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