Sergio has a point. Using common engine blocks and internal parts is just spec racing. Next lets just us a common chassis like most Indy car teams. Enzo would have been appalled If this is the future of F1 you can have it. Label slapping car logos on the same stuff is another race series, not Formula one. If you want to save money just go with 3 cars per team. Fill the grid faster with top teams using more of their resources more efficiently.
Very similar to the CART/IRL kerfluffel of the 1990s. IRL went the NASCAR route, CART stayed with the technology. Eventually they compromised and got back together, but the racing community lost something great we will never get back.
No one is proposing those changes though... This is about eliminating the ersH, standardizing some electronic components, raising the rev limit - all for a cheaper and more visceral engine. Lets not pretend Ferrari are on the 'right' side here. This is muscle flexing against Liberty Media/Ross Brawn... If Ross Brawn proposal called for a a more 'analog' fire-breathing V12 with no rev limit (which would have left 95% of fans here and elsewhere salivating), Marchionne would be against that too because it would be 'dumbed-down' not 'road relevant' etc.
Interesting view on Sergio's statements - http://www.espn.co.uk/f1/story/_/id/21824817/should-f1-take-ferrari-quit-threat-seriously
It's a view anyway. I might be in the minority but I don't give two ****s about f1. I care about ferrari and I would never turn on a race again if ferrari was not competing.
F1 is expensive. It's F1 . . . . love it or leave it. I think Gene Haas has the ear of the F1 people and he's been lobbying the Liberty people like crazy, hoping the squeaky wheel gets the grease. Hey Gene . . . . this isn't Nascar!
Gene Haas might be making noise behind the scenes, but it’s Christian Horner squeaking loudly...because he doesn’t know how to maintain a relationship with a vendor, IMO. Sure, Williams and Sauber would like to spend less money, but they are largely silent about the issue... Many people on forums are inflating the desire for change. The reality is that by and large, the teams see some areas for improvement, but very few want to toss the baby out with the bath water.
That seems right to me. The fact that they all want to keep the seem engines by and large indicates to me that, in a number of ways, it is the financials that the teams are mostly concerned about - meaning prize money, etc. - and not the regulations.
How many times did Enzo threaten to quit? Seems like dozens. He actually did, for one race in 1976, and it might have cost Niki Lauda a world championship.