FERRARI'S OPTION If Not F1

Of course they will - even if they take a short hiatus (and paint the cars blue and white and run them as team NART or something).

 

Ferrari will not leave F1, simply because it is such a cash cow for them. They won't go to IRL because who will watch it without international telecast? Can you name the network that televises it?? Its called Versus. who?

 

To stop racing in F1 is to call all your sponsors and give them their money back. Does anyone realistically think Ferrari will do that; and risk never being able to line that sponsor up again when they "come back" to F1?

 

Even better if the Indy 500 were itself an F1 event. But I guess we are not going to see the Packard back again either.

 

They will remain in F1, if not, there will be a new series with basically all the manufacturers currently in F1.

Btw, you guys need to get rid of the idea that Ferrari (or any European team) will enter IRL/Nascar/whatever to compensate for the loss of F1. There's absolutely ZERO interest in these series here in Europe. Zero. Zilch. Nada.

 

+10000 they will compromise a solution sooner than later.

 

That would be cool to watch

 

Perhaps a Ferrari powered Packard?

 

Ferrari should just launch it's own version of F1 that competes with the FIA... then sway the other teams to jump ship as well.

 

If only it was that easy.

 

I dont think any of us really meant it - just blowing off some steam over this lousy season and lack of intelligent management on the part of the FIA.

 

Some say the Ferrari has always been powered by a Packard -

 

LDM did not get to where he is by being stupid or short sighted. If anybody thinks he's done playing his hand, they're mistaken. I think Bernie is mistaken in underestimating the voracity of LDM and FOTA. We are just getting started! In today's economic climate it actually IS the perfect time to make a break, workout the new series details, let Bernies(F1-IRL) become a complete farce and then begin a complete new series fans will be dying for. LDM/Ferrari has political and business alliances way beyond the reach of Maranello that Bernie will never have. I opine it is LDM'S/FOTA'S wish to bury him and Max once and for all NOW. If not now, then when? When the world gets rolling again and everybody temporarily forgets about the nonsense(until it comes around again of course), I think not!

 

Agreed, but endurance racing is popular, no? Would love to see them contest Le Mans.

 

Won't happen if the rules which massively favour Diesel cars won't be changed. Furthermore, only Le Mans itself is popular. The series around... isn't. Yes, we enthusiasts all like it, but the average F1 viewer doesn't.

 

+1, that being said in the age of diesel that has happened I don't see this happening any time soon. If they leave F1 the only real option would be to start a breakaway series with whomever else leaves F1.

IRL - short of the 500 there is no real glamour, they'd have to power numerous teams, meaning there would be no one "Ferrari team"

NASCAR - no possible way. While I am not a fan of the California (holding off final judgement until I see it in person), the amount of body work they would have to do to make it eligible for NASCAR would be insane. Take off the decals on the stock cars and they all look incredibly similar.

The breakaway series would allow the teams (or whatever governing body they choose/create) to keep cars similar to what everyone is used to running and a unified front presents the biggest challenge to Formula-1.

That being said, I fully expect both sides to compromise and have all the teams stay in F1.

 

Doubtful they could beat the deisels in LMS/ALMS P1 but could be competative in P2
I vote for a full blown factory effort in LMS/ALMS GT2 or maybe a 599 in GT1

Quite frankly I believe those two series provide the best and most entertaining racing of any major series.

Another option would be a DP car in the Rolex/Grand AM series

 

I guess the teams have full support from their sponsors, otherwise they wouldn't do such a thing. Anyway, they're not pulling out immediately so no need to give money back.

 

Options:

1. FOTA forces Max to realize he is the referee, not the dictator, and the FIA gives in.
2. FOTA goes out on their own to establish a new world championship. Max has always believed that the teams would never be able to work together, and they surely have given him reasons to believe this. Funny that now he could be the uniting force for them. And they sure do give Bernie alot of the money now.....the FIA, Bernie, and the teams are so far apart now from being a cohesive unit that this may be very likely.
3. Ferrari wisely chooses to stay in the sport and maintain their "only one always in it" standing and adhere to whatever budget cap Max wants. Do not make a rash decision and assume that F1 will not see the light. But, take the new resources no longer needed in F1 and go racing elsewhere. Develop a car for LeMans and ALMS, and make a big splash to your important north american market by running some ALMS series and supplying a car for Indy/IRL. All of the car companies involved in F1 would like to see growth in this market and without a US grand prix or Montreal, they could supply racing in another series. I think Ferrari's sponsors would be willing to follow them to another series and that would put great pressure on F1 to get their act together.

 

They couldn't, they're never (IMHO) going to do anything diesel and would have zero interest in P2 - They'd have to win outright. Not gonna happen

Wow! How the mighty would fall - F1 to GT1! - You gotta be kidding, right?

You may very well be right, but nobody watches! [Apart from Carol of course ] And Le Mans.

What's the TV audience for LeMans? I guess less than a 100th of F1 every year? - That's what they get from F1.

My 02c, cheers,
Ian
PS, Carol - No offense intended - I enjoy your posts.

 

Hard to say, but I'm convinced they won't enter a racing series which almost no one gets to see outside the states (ie IRL).

Unless the rules change regarding diesels in Le Mans I can't see them entering that either.

TBH if the 2010 rules stay in place and Ferrari does leave, including a couple of others F1 won't exist for much longer and something like Grand Prix Racing (or similar) will have to be created, most likely with the same teams F1 has right at this moment.

 

While there may be little interest in U.S.-based series in Europe, like it or not, the U.S. remains Ferrari's (and most European automaker's) top production car market. 90% of racing (and the reason automakers get involved) is for the publicity, image and advertising. Racing in an American series makes huge sense if there is an F1 pull-out (though I doubt there will be). Manufacturers are extremely disappointed that there is no GP in North America currently.

While some can claim that racing is all about emotion and that racing is Ferrari's reason for existence, that is simply untrue at the very fundamental level.