Indeed. And MH is one of the few journo's I actually somewhat trust - He's been around a long time. His UKP 80MM for a season seems a little high to me - I thought the minnows were running at ~UKP 50MM per. I have no idea how to fix it either but it would be a sad day if we lost almost half the grid - In addition to the 3 back markers he also mentions Williams, Sauber & FI as being in trouble although Pastor's money should keep Frank afloat at least..... May also be time for Bernie to step in again - He *hates* losing teams and he's been known to bail 'em out in the past. Cheers, Ian
I've been assured that FI is to stay this season and the next few... King Fisher isn't doing well in India but a lot of VJ's other business is going well. I've been told this by a personal friend of Mallya (I had no idea they where friends until I was talking F1 with him last week).
Oh, indeed! F1 isn't going away anytime soon. However, a much emptier grid may be around the corner again is his point - Manufacturers don't seem very interested and the new engine formula isn't coming cheap. Cheers, Ian
I can see the bottom teams leaving, especially HRT. Their real problem is that they're not bringing enough money to the table to even improve their cars so they can occasionally try and compete with the mid range teams. The mid range teams have occasionally shown some pace that gets them to 6/7th position which is punching above their weight. When have we seen this with the bottom teams, a genuine fight with a mid range team that wasn't because of someone elses misfortune? The fact remains that before they even entered they hadn't enough money, and couldn't find it. If their highlight of the season is starting 21st on the grid or finishing 1 place ahead of a virgin, I don't really miss them TBH. If they are able to occasionally compete with Torro Rosso's, Saubers or FI, it'll be a shame if they leave. This year is make it or break it for those teams.
Actually its the opposite, his airline business and other ventures are doing horrible, however KingFisher brewery is doing very well and its funding everything. The airline business is what is killing him. The reason why he sold half his share of Force India to.Sahara. Force India is fine, but I would keep an eye on Lotus.
No surprise. Bernie has been growing F1 at an unsustainable rate. He needs to return high profits to the sport's new owners Abandoning its traditional European venues in persuit of bigger buck state supported races that have no fan base. How long will these governments be able to justify their huge expenses? Bringing in new uncompetitive teams that can't attract sponsorship has only hurt matters. Customer teams would allow the development costs to be spread and would fill the grid. Like it or not we're in for a big contraction. Personally I welcome it. Get rid of the speculators and return to the sport's roots.
One thing does seem increasingly clear, is that the new Concorde Agreement is going to hit very turbulent waters getting it signed come the end of this 2012 season!......... I cannot see the mid and back enders agreeing to the split of the funds continuing at 50% for Bernie's FOM company, 2.5% for Fearrari, and the other probable 45% being divided among the top 9 teams, with the remaining probable 2.5% divided equally among the new 3 teams.........that's assuming my information is accurate, which coming from who told me, I believe it to be........... I believe the Concorde needs to be a unanimous agreement for it to pass...........can't see this happening............. With the 2011 revenue supposedly being in the region of $770 mill, it would seem that managed less greedily, there is sufficient for it to go around in a more justifiable manner, where everyone gets a *fair* piece of the pie and not just Bernie and a chosen few, and for F1 to continue in it's current form. I also believe there is no sense in implimenting new engine rules for 2014. This seems to be heading towards a confrontation between Bernie and the FIA.............ie: Jean Todt...............Mercedes have commented that in their opinion, changing engines will make the new V6 turbo engines at least 40% more expensive for the teams than the current V8's, and for what purpose? The current engines are reliable, powerful, noisy, cost effective, so why change them when finances have become a big issue for F1? I'm guessing that both Renault and Ferrari will also baulk at this move. Perhaps we should look back to when another Frenchman was running the FIA..................Jean-Marie Ballestre.......... do we want to have politics all but destroy F1 again?
Not politics. Economics The key to Bernie's longevity has been making his partners rich. Now the music's stopping and he's going to be more than one chair short.
Sounds like an airline that is on its way out... http://pitpass.com/45682-Kingfisher-airlines-facing-turbulence
I think part of the reason that we aren't seeing the backmarkers get any finishes that are better than they should get is because of the engine freeze and regulations on it. Before they froze the engine development and limited them to 18,000 rpm you would see many more top teams have engine failures in the races. When there are almost no engine failures by the top teams the lower teams have little chance of gaining spots that way. Hell last year we had all 24 cars finish a race, never has that happened before.
They should have never left the V10s. Was a ridiculously stupid move. If they wanted to slow the cars down they could have done it a la Toro Rosso in 2006 and put an air intake/rev limiters on the cars for a pittance compared to the billions companies shelled out to develop the V8s. They sounded a lot better, too. The V8s were one of Mad Max's dip**** initiatives that made zero sense. And the turbo V6s are a bunch of greenie BS...
At this point I'm almost resigned to the fact the F1 has to implode under the weight of its own folly. Only then may we see a return to sanity.
Completely agree...the utter stupidity of the decisions made over the years gives me little confidence in the sport's leadership. I fear things will have to get much worse before they get better.
I can understand Max being an ass (because he always has been...) but I'm surprised at Todt. Thought he'd be more reasonable and understand the rediculous cost of new engines.
I just hope that it will happen sooner than later. I suspect that the timing will be dependent on a short man's health.
