Former Williams F1 chairman predicts three teams could leave series in 2015 | Autoweek
I'm down for 3 cars per team. Makes wonderful sense for me because I follow F1 driver first then F1 team. I think it'll also make for more exciting racing, assuming the gaps between all 24 cars will be closer since they would hypothetically only be all top teams and not financially struggling back markers.
I don't see why we need Caterham, Marrusia on the grid. Those days, these small teams were stepping stones for future stars. Not anymore. Anyone with bigger wallet and less talent gets the drive. Just look how Koby was treated at Caterham. I would have given the team the finger and left.
Marussa and Chaterham will not be missed. Lotus will be missed. I don't think the idea of 3-car teams makes any sense unless the Constructors Championship can only score 2 of the 3 cars.
But the ex-Benetton team will be missed. Under Briatore, it won 4 championships under different owners. If Lotus packs up, a chunck of F1 history will disappear with the Enstone team.
Yes. Enstone would be a loss. They've morphed in to several incarnations. Perhaps there's one more left.
That was the original proposition. Drivers would score points in the WDC, but only the results of the 2 best-placed cars in any team would count towards the WCC at each GP.
Red Bull have said that they can easily field a 3rd car, cost won't increase much because sponsors have more exposure etc. Fine for Mercedes/Ferrari/Red Bull and maybe (at a big push) Mclaren and williams...but the bottom 3 teams will have problems with sponsorship still IMO. They can't exactly ring up all their sponsors and say ''listen chaps, you need to fork over more money because we're running another car''.
Was it? That's seems awfully unfair to the guys running just two. I could be wrong, but *should* it happen I seem to recall they had to designate two for WCC points(?) The third can score in the WDC, nicking points from the other guys, but I guess I'm good with that. Cheers, Ian
I don't think any team could be forced to run 3 cars; those in the money will, the others will keep the present arrangement. That's how I read it anyway. The whole point of "allowing" a third car per team would be to fill the gaps left by the team that have left, up to a point. The idea of suddenly changing the format from 12x2 cars to 8x3 cars to reach 24 cars on the grid seems utopic.
Or distopic. Once the big guys fill the grid will the FIA have incentive to encourage new blood? Just because these guys didn't make the grade shouldn't shut the door for others.
Unfairness is an essential ingredient to F1. When you have teams spending 1/2 billion $ a year (rumoured) racing algainst competitors disposing 10 times less and already 40 millions in debts at half season, you realise how uneven the field is. Don't talk about "fairness" in F1, please!! I guess any team bringing a third car to allow Bernie to fullfill his contract with organisers will get some serious leverage out of it.
Which bring the idea of customer cars back on the table. With the technical demands of F1 nowadays, I really don't think there is room for 12 "constructors" in F1. Is has become too expensive for teams to each design and race their own cars.
Customer cars are a better idea than mega three car teams. While F1 has become ghastly expensive an independent with success and experience might be place to turn constructor.
Sure. From a budget perspective, it's always been unfair. There's always been backmarkers with smaller budgets. Some of us even like to root for the minnows. Lose those and F1 loses part of it's soul. What I was referring to is some teams with three cars being able to dominate the WCC. Not right IMO. Designate two and *maybe* it's OK was my point. Cheers, Ian
Yet they continue to line up waiting for entries........ I hate the idea of customer cars. I understand why they may allow it, and there's an argument to allow more "technology transfer" between teams, but, and despite what Pete says ( ) it's the World *Constructors * Championship...... Some may only care about the WDC, but I'm not one of them. Take "constructor" out of it and it becomes just another spec series. No thanks. Its hard, "design it, build it, race it" is at the very heart of F1. Cheers, Ian
Yes, there are always many fools waiting to be separated with their money, that's for sure! Just the Jordan team had 4 owners in less than 10 years, Benetton just as many, but we have lost many teams and team owners and that didn't improve the show. The list is endless. Even Toyota and Honda have given up the idea of being "constructors" ! So has Renault. You may hate the idea of customer cars, but I happend to like it! What about that then? Grand Prix is about drivers, first and foremost, not constructors. I suggest Endurance should be the place to decide the World Constructor championship, not F1. Most enthusiasts can quote the WDC recipients year by year, but not many can recite the list of WCC, can they? Just like there aren't many companies able to built jumbo jets, there aren't many "constructors" able to build a competitive F1 nowadays. A modern F1 is crammed with technology and requires huge funds to be be designed and developped. Frankly, to expect 12 outfits to deliver the goods is just unrealistic. Just like asking 12 countries to design a F35 rival, for example: it just can't be done.
According to Boullier, rumors of 3-car teams next year is bullocks: If it was Adam Parr’s intention to provoke when he stated that three-car teams will definitely be on the F1 grid in 2015 then Eric Boullier for one isn’t rising to the bait. Parr, Williams’ former CEO, took to Twitter on Sunday, posting: “This is the last year of F1 as we know it. In 2015 eight teams will contest the championship, with several teams entering three cars.” Speaking on Tuesday, however, Boullier played down Parr’s intervention. But while McLaren’s Racing Director categorically stated his belief that three-car teams aren’t on the immediate agenda, he expressed fears for the futures of a couple of outfits. “I think he’s being a bit provocative,” Boullier said in a McLaren-Mercedes phone-in. “We all know anyway that Formula 1 is going through a transition time; with the car manufacturers in the last decade, budgets have literally gone through the roof and now we are in a different economic situation and there is some transition. So there is potentially a couple of teams which may suffer [because] of this and I don’t know if they will still be on the grid. “But I don’t think we’ll go to eight teams and three cars per team next year and definitely not in such a short-term notice. I think everybody is aware of this and I think F1 is aware of that as well.” Although the notion of three-car teams has been mooted for a number of years, it was placed back in the spotlight during the summer when Bernie Ecclestone expressed his support. Speaking to Gazzetta dello Sport, Ecclestone said that if smaller teams cannot keep up with rising costs then "they must stop." The F1 supremo added: "If you don't have the finances, you quit. I'm ready for a Formula 1 with eight teams with three cars each. “ Instead, Boullier suggested that teams should meet rising costs with a greater share of F1’s revenues. “There is as usual a lot of discussion around this situation which are not comfortable for some teams and I obviously hope that there will be some understanding and some development maybe in the business model of F1 in the near future to not go that far – and not be that provocative,” he added. Source: SkysportsF1.com
Indeed. Benetton used to be Tyrrell of course. But yes, the list is endless. And I believe will continue to get longer..... One could make an argument that Toyota, BMW (who you forgot ) and Honda are in a lot or ways responsible for the "mess" it's now in..... They were largely responsible for the "budget wars" that bought us to were we are now. When they couldn't win, they pulled out and left it, once again, to the few *racers* that have always been the backbone of the series. (Ferrari, Mclaren, Williams are but the biggest three of course.) Fair enough. We beg to differ there is all! Beg to differ there too. Nobody gives a flying **** about endurance racing. It's BOP'd, manufacturers come and go if the rules suit them. Outside of Le Mans nobody watches (and even there, only some dedicated enthusiasts.) F1 OTOH remains the most watched sport there is..... That's no doubt true. But the heart and soul, and the all important money, is based on the WCC results. Long may that continue IMO. Don't like the heat? As Bernie says, there's plenty of other places to burn your money. Want to be the *best*? Win the WCC and get paid hundreds of millions. If you've got the balls. Cheers, Ian
Nope. Benetton used to be Toleman, of course. Later becoming Renault and now "Lotus". Tyrrell became BAR, later Honda, then Brawn and now ... Mercedes.
Like it or not we live in a time of celebrity. Fans, by and large, identify with individuals. Not what we feel is appropriate for F1 which is a team sport but that's the way it is.
I do not care to see how slow Marussia, Caterham, et al, end up each season. It does nothing to add to the sport, and does much to detract from the sport and from the racing. The rules then have to be written for the lowest common denominator and smallest budgets and the fast drivers are literally impeded by cars that struggle to get under the 107% or 108% rule. In many situations it has proven to be downright unsafe and has caused collisions. These teams are not innovative nor do they showcase new talent. They are merely billboards moving around the racetrack offering seats for sale to rich/sponsored drivers. I don't care how many billions of dollars a year Mercedes or Ferrari or McLaren or Red Bull or Toyota or Honda or whoever comes to the sport chooses to spend. I want more competitors competing in competitive cars. Period.
