'F1 is completely unsustainable' [for small teams] 'F1 is completely unsustainable' | Planet F1 | Formula One | News, Standings, Results, Features, Video
Has it really been any different over the last 15 ~ 20 years? The problem is, these small outfits come along and think that they can be in F1 on a shoestring budget and then complain when they find out that it's a seriously expensive sport to participate in, as though it's some kind of secret that no one knew! As I've posted in the other thread covering this same subject, when the planned $50Million budget cap plan fell through, both these teams (in their original guises), should have walked away from the sport rather than continue the plan to be in F1, hoping beyond hope that the big teams would agree to slash their budgets by as much as $150Million or more a season! - That was never likely to happen!
So what they are realising is that if you bring a couple ford focuses to the 458 challenge series, get beat every week and have no money to upgrade to a car capable of winning, sponsors won't be lining up around the corner to pay the bills? Who knew? Damn There's me thinking I would enter f1 next year for a laugh with an old arrows chassis I found round the back of the garage and sponsorship from our local minimart. Surely the big teams will let me have a run at it and help me pay the bills?
The big players have been too greedy, and now they are left to mop up the mess. If the field goes below 16 cars, FOM will be in breach of contract with the organisers, and Bernie will be out of a job. The 5 top teams that actually receive most of the money will be left to compete among themselves in front of a depleted audience. That won't please their sponsors. I can see some TV channels renegotiating their fees too! The whole business is crashing down.
In its entire history 164 teams have competed in F1. Only ten remain (twelve if you count Maruusia and Caterham). That's an average of two failing every year. Survivors are the exception.
What would be wrong with saying you get X amount of displacement, Y maximum revs, and you only get Z engines per season. You could tweak X, Y , and Z (my preference would be X=4.0L, Y=14,000 rpm, Z=8 for the first year and 6 after that). Let them have as much fuel as they want, but ban refueling. The weight penalty for a powerful, thristy engine will promote fuel economy. The max revs would discourage useless technology like pneumatic valves.
Of this 164 long list of teams, not all "failed", some just left because of change of strategy or were wound down by their owners. Some even survived under a different owner and brand. Arrows and Prost went bankrupt, for example, but Jaguar, Vanwall and BRM didn't. Some teams were "killed" by the regulations too; FOCA and Concorde Agreement.
There is always going to be a back of the field. Never seen a season where everyone wins. This isnt grade school creative writing. There is plenty of money in F1. As a capitalist I can't believe I'm writing this; but its this distribution that sucks. Points need to go all the way to the back of the field. And ( mother of all sacrileges ) there needs to be a way to equalise teams over a season. Would you want to field a team as a manufacturer that finished dead last ? How would that look to the public and board of directors that writes the check ? Would you sponsor such a team ? Eliminating back mark teams only moves middle field teams back there and they would have the very same issues. Crude primitive NASCAR has figured it out surely the best and brightest can do the same.
The quicker they introduce a two tier system, the better. Class A teams develop their own engines/chassis'(at least one of the two) and Class B teams don't. They instead purchase those two items (or more) from the Class A teams or external suppliers. This would encourage privateers to enter Class B with a sustainable business model and if they thrive they build toward Class A. It would see the current and future back markers of the sport as it stands today actually being able to shift to Class B and stand a chance to actually win something competing against fellow class B teams in their own privateer championship. Let those that can afford to spend like lunatics spend all they want in Class A, and let those that can't at least have the opportunity to benefit from that spending by way of purchasing that technology instead of burying themselves in debt to attempt to do it themselves and compete against manufacturing conglomerates.
True enough but my point is that losing two teams in a season isn't really news. The majors costs of the new formula have already been incurred. Any changes now, no matter how sane, would just add to the expense. It would be nice if we could expect them to learn fron their mistake but I wouldn't bet on it.
Caterham, Marussia and HRT are sons of that failed low cost F1 that tried Max Mosley so it's not surprising that all of them are dead or almost dead. Honestly, they did better than I expected, I thought that wouldn' last more than 2 seasons. But when middle class teams like Sauber and Lotus are struggling just to survive (and still owing money to everybody) it's time to try something different. A different money distribution would be reasonable, imo. The big teams get money from their sponsors and the big manufacturers so they don't desperately need so much cash from Bernie.
Customer cars used to be common up to the 70/80s, but the FIA rules then decided that all teams should be "constructors" as well to participate in F1. The blame lies with that silly rule. With the new complex technology present, there is just not 12 automotive engineering firms able to design and operate top rate cars, and even less to finance their operations. It's as simple as that, but the penny is just starting to drop at the FIA, FOM, etc... We used to have private teams using customer cars in the past, and some did quite well: Rob Walker, Centro-Sud, BRP, Larousse, Theodore Racing, Laystall, Tyrrell, Williams, etc...
+1 Thanks for counting them up! 164 teams really is quite a lot. Always been this way, and I'm pretty sure it always will be. Totally agree on the costs of the new formula. Like it or not, we're stuck with it for many years yet and the expenses will amortize over that time. "Rumors of the death of F1 are, as usual, over stated." Cheers, Ian
...and they should be encouraged to return to compete in Class B. Fans that complain of F1 being ruined etc, etc can then put their money where their mouths are and actually support these privateers in that class at the same level a Ferrari fan would support Ferrari. Class B would only work as long as fans attitudes toward it is a healthy and supportive one and it isn't deemed the inferior class. Fans that thought manufacturers have spoilt the sport have the option to support teams that are racing for different reasons in Class B, perhaps dare I say love of motorsport? In a two tier system fans will decide which approach they truly want to support. Class A with Nasa level budgets, or privateers that in many ways keep the old romance alive. As it stands today smaller teams not only cannot compete with the bigger teams but they are creating mountains of debt for themselves even attempting to do the impossible. They struggle for sponsors and investors because they are seen as inferior and losers. By deciding to race in Class B they actually have the realistic opportunity to actually win a championship and their teams can benefit financially as a result. Being lapped constantly, not making it out of qualifying, incurring ridiculous levels of debt building their own cars and having almost no realistic chance to secure wins against automotive conglomerates seems far less attractive and sustainable than what I am suggesting.
Fans don't financially support teams. I wouldn't count on public support to save small teams. Just make F1 affordable by allowing customers cars. At present, most teams have 200 staff+ tp run 2 cars, because they have an army of engineers, designers, technicians and boffins to create them in the first place. A customer team could have 40 staff only at most.
Reclaiming some of those lost viewers over the years by introducing Class B customer/privateer teams certainly wouldn't harm the sport. Having those teams gain popularity and thus selling a greater amount of merchandise certainly wouldn't be a negative either albeit not a financial game changer. As it stands we have teams 'racing' the bigger teams that actually aren't competing against them. They are lapped constantly, out qualified and achieve next to no points. Allowing a Class B to emerge where costs are re-written and in some cases created to keep costs down in that specific class like, as you say reducing track side staff and motorhomes would be incredibly beneficial. Lets allow a tier system where it is clear who is actually racing who, and let those teams purchase their cars from teams that can also provide additional trackside support if needed.
Honestly, if it meant real sustainability, and was feasible to police, I'd be all for a $100-150million cap (exclusive of driver salary) in exchange for looser regs on engines (much looser on the engine) and aerodynamics. Mark
