THE COLLAPSE OF FORMULA ONE

Well I was upset Ari did not get the job, funny I'm not now the mess Mosley has left will finish Todt off. I forgot about the N.Technology court case, depending on how it goes expect more Mosley crap hitting the fan.

 

F1 was certainly more interesting when James Hunt was racing for Lord Hesketh.
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That's the problem with F1 these days; nobody is named 'Lord'; there are a few 'Sirs' but no 'Lords'.... Lol

 

Absolutely excellent sir top-hole, with an ying and yang and yippiedeedoo...

 

Hesketh Racing, home of people such as Rabbit, Bubbles, Ball O'String, Ferret, Charles Atlas and Road Atlas!

 

forgot Beaky! Now team manager of Risi Competizione GT team.

 

Couldn't have said it any better.

Well, they aren't. To me the major underpinnings of the sport are:
- fastest cars around a track
- individually built cars
- various engines
- open wheel and open cockpits
- standing start

If we start meddling with these items, then the sport is in danger. But that's not the case. Massa's accident almost caused some idiots to suggest closed cockpits, thank God that went nowhere.

But teams quitting and tighter budgets are not the end of F1. Or the end of F1 would have already happened in the mid fifties when they had to bring in F2 cars etc.

Right there, doesn't that tell you something about the seriousness of the FOTA's pirate series? I said all along that was a bluff. Imagine they had persevered. Right now the pirates would be down to Ferrari and Mercedes (assuming Renault faults). That would have been indeed the end of F1. No wonder I was adamently against a pirate series.

No disagreement there.

 

You assume that the manufacturers are leaving only because of costs. IMO the unpredictable rule making and interpretation had a lot to do with it as well.

 

The teams that quit did it for two reasons:
- lack of money on the car production side
- lack of success in F1

Mad Max is gone, so why worry about the rule making? It will not be perfect, but it never was.

 

You're that sanguine about JT?
I hope you're right but I wouldn't bet company money on it.

I'm not saying that money and success (lack of) weren't major factors, just that they weren't the only ones.

David


BTW If a FOTA series were to be run in more countries like the USA where the manufacturers large markets they may well have seen the value of entering.

 

While there is some concern about JT, there are also a few good factors: He knows the sport inside out (I doubt Mad Max ever did), he is rational (Max only was on occasion) and he is hard working (Max does other things, let's leave it at that).

I honestly think that the FIA presidents are improving: Mad Max was better than Bala Bala and Todt is a quantum leap from Max.

 

Andreas,
see my edit above.

 

They need to fine Mclaren out of existence.
BMW, Toyota, Honda, and perhaps Renault now can take a hike.
Brawn is out of cash.
Force India is not a force.
What to do with that pesky Red Bull. Todt will find a cure.

Ferrari should be competing against guys who bring their cars to the track on flat beds pulled by pickups.

Forza Ferrari. Lets have some more good old days.

 

The grids have been incredibly tight the last two years but I suspect that you're going to start to see some pretty big gaps in performance between the established guard like Ferrari, McLaren, Red Bull and perhaps Williams. The newer teams are going to truly help redefine back markers at least for the next season or two.

 

Good point.

I think we will have a very tight race up front and then a big gap to the newbies and backmarkers.

Add to that the fact that a lot of the backmarkers will use inexperienced drivers and you have yourself some rolling chicanes, which might add some entertainment value when being lapped.

 

With the new rolling chicanes maybe we can get rid of some of the stationary ones

 

Then somebody named Lord somethingoranother needs to hire Casey Putsch!

 

Right, which is another one of the cycles of Formula 1. Just as the competitive balance begins to close, something typically interferes to widen the gap. Usually, it's a rule change that inevitably favors the bigger-budget teams. But, if more teams enter the fray, that's ultimately a good thing. Just a few short years ago, it looked as if the barriers to entry would prevent newly-formed teams from entering.

 

I remember a similar situation several years ago (late 90's). At that time everyone was concerned about the safety aspect of the much slower cars and closing speeds, manuevers to get around them, etc. So the 107% rule was instituted. I fear if we were still under those regulations (and why wouldn't we be since the field is growing again) the grids will NOT be full. I do not see the new teams coming up to speed too quickly...

 

Maybe this blood letting is just what the sport needs, some teams closing and new teams coming means a shifting around of some of the brains and money in F1. Let's hope good comes from it..

 

Ferrari thinks otherwise and warned on its webpage of the dying out of F1 teams.

Very strange comment to make.

 

At Bernie's level of wealth and advanced age, you'd think he'd mellow a bit. You can't take it with you (well I suppose you request to be buried with a billion in cash if you were foolish enough to believe it would be carried out ) and Bernie, you've already got more than even your heirs could waste.

RETIRE!!!

 

And I honestly agree with you. Actually I thought Max did a fine job for the first half of his tenure, but then irrationalism began setting in.....

 

Term limits?

 

Yes and no.

I agree that he did worse with improving years in the job. But he did some pretty bad stuff in the nineties as well. Stuff that might have cost Ratzenberger's life according to "Business F1".