The facts is that F1 is a business that went through many storms in the past, and still managed to survive. In 1952, Talbot and Alfa Romeo left, BRM wasn't ready and the formula was found too expensive (1.5L supercharged), so the FIA decided in a hurry that the following year, the WDC would be run under F2 rules. The championship was saved. In 1960, after the departure of Maserati, Vanwall and Aston Martin (already), the field was depleted. The FIA had enlarged the concept of "constructors" to chassis builders and reduced the engine size to 1.5L N/A, allowing the use of the cheap Coventry-Climax fire engine; the "garagists" era started. Etc, etc ... It could be that F1 takes a different aspect which we won't like, but it's far from dead.
Somebody with a historic perspective spoke. Thank you William. I remember the FISA/FOCA war and the pirate races where everybody said that would be the end of F1. In hindsight those were dramatic races and a tragic year.
Gerhard Berger Porsche might join F1 in 2022 as an engine supplier....we should know in May of next year whether Porsche will commit. Even so, I still would go with Renault rather than Porsche. To me, Porsche has a huge mountain to climb.
Not just that. The teams need some time to build their 22 cars and can't just sit around waiting for a new engine.
The FIA could run a World Drivers Championship using F2 cars in 21 GPs worldwide, . The F2 championship is a feeder series which races mostly in Europe. WDC and F2 have different sporting rules, and the WDC is only open to drivers with Superlicences. I can't see why that wouldn't work.
Right. Didn't understand that comment at all. Of course there is F2. Mick is the current leader. No different than what happened in the fifties.
Not much time between May 2021 and March 2022 to get the Porsche show going in F1, I would have thought. Unless, of course, they have been developing and testing in secret for years free from any restriction.
Can’t really blame Honda for leaving, virtually no tangible benefit for them to stay. Very little road car relevance due to the push to go to EVs, very little marketing value when only 1 team has been able to win since 2014 due to the PU regulations and every update to the regulations seems to push others back. With rumors of Renault possibly leaving and Mercedes selling part or all of its team, these are very challenging times for F1. The question I ask is not why is Honda leaving now, it is why are any of the manufacturers wasting time and capital on F1 in its current state and formula? I do not blame Liberty for this mess, it falls squarely on the FIA and the manufacturers.
Hmmmm. Warning pure speculation and daydreaming, no facts, ahead. Honda are leaving F1, but appear to be staying in Indy car. Ferrari aren't going anywhere, but have also expressed an interest in Indy car Renault are shaky and may leave F1 to concentrate on WEC Hyper car Mercedes probably aren't going anywhere (as an engine supplier), and have Indy car experience in the past through ILMOR who make the current GM Indycar engine. Could they be GM are in Indy car to stay. F1 is out of control on engine costs, no matter what they are doing with the rest of the cost cutting measure. The current Indy car engines are 2.2L turbo V6's limited to 12k rpm and sound glorious compared to F1, but make 'only' 700-750hp. The next gen Indy car engines are based on the same concept but upped to 2.4L and aiming for 900hp with a basic bold on hybrid system in and out more often that I can keep track of. Make F1 and Indy car the same engine formula allowing F1 more hybrid energy and open, not a spec unit. That way you can keep Honda, Ferrari can play in either series with the same basic engine, Mercedes have already played in the past and GW though Cadillac or Corvette) could enter F1 as well? Probably a flight of fantasy, but I can wish.
F1 needs to decide whether to still go OEM (with a push towards EV's) OR come up with a formula that invites non-OEM to make the formula simpler and have more choice for the teams. F1 has been at a crossroads since 2014 and it needs to decide whether it should be relevant to OEM.
Times are not comparable. No one wants to spend the billions needed to catch up to the current formula. Back in the 50's and 60's, being in F1 was pocket change compared to now. Further, F1 back then wasn't losing 30MM+ eyeballs a year. F1 has lost at least 250MM viewers since Todt has been in charge, and there has been zero reversal of that decline, and no improvement in the far future. To make matters worse, viewership in all forms of car racing is in massive decline or nowhere near their peak numbers. One of the largest car manufacturers on the planet left F1. Actually, several. Toyota. Honda. BMW. Renault a few times. F1 recently lost its last independent team. Haas and Sauber are on life support. McLaren had to hock itself backwards in order to keep the lights on. The only teams that don't have to worry about money are the teams with unicorn financiers. Keep in mind that Ferrari used to make a lot of money from F1; now, they are losing money. These are problems decades in the making, and led by a group of people that oversaw the death of WRC and....have you looked at manufacturer involvement in WEC lately? But, according to you, F1 is merely experiencing a chest cold.
What did you not understand? The FIA could adopt temporarily F2 cars for the WDC. It would be cheap alternative if there was an engine crisis or the departure of several teams from F1. They did it in 1952/53: Alberto Ascari won his 2 WDC titles on F2 cars.
Here's another interesting question to chew on - How much money will Liberty will have lost by the end of 2021 based on valuation of F1 then compared to what they paid for it?
Seems like an unfair question. I doubt their goals was to sell it that quickly. They want to grow the brand first. For those who criticize Liberty: Bernie did not want to have any race this season. How would that have been better?
Fair, but if I bought an asset and the value of it plummeted in the span of a few years I'd say my management of it was not all that good. Certainly not arguing for a return of Bernie - however getting to a competitive & cost effective formula should probably been more on the radar. They let the spend grow to the point that only manufacturers could win & compete and now all of the manufacturers will pull up anchor as it's not relevant to them anymore.
Spending in F1 has been growing since tobacco advertising joined. If anything recent management has been trying to freeze development and slow the cost explosion. That all happened before Liberty took over. Liberty is trying to contain the costs further with the new regulations while keeping the show interesting. Long term scenario at best. And cost control for manufacturers is only one part of the whole enterprise, developing new venues and races is another altogether. I'm not a big fan of Liberty. But I give them credit for this year's efforts and for trying to have a second US race. Whether they will succeed longterm I cannot say. Maybe they will morph into something else. Just like Bernie was not the sole guy in charge before them. He too made several changes in ownership and owner structure. Personally I don't care too much about this. The sport will survive because it is too valuable for too many people. Players come and go, that's been always the case.
