Very interesting. Perhaps the successful Korean car companies may join in, the likes of Hyundai and Kia???? Tata perhaps from India???
Tony, you the only one with an answer so far. Possibly no one else came up with a real answer because there really isn't much else that can be done to ensure that there is a full grid in 5 years? Or no one really cares? I find it interesting that your ideas continue the idea of budget caps, and no one has slammed you for that. Possibly people realize there is no other viable solution in the long term of F1. I would have loved to seen F1 continue on as it was in the 1970's, and the 1990's, and in the 2003-2004 era. Yet I realize that changes had to be made, not always changes that I liked, or changes that made sense at the time. Or changes that made sense after the fact. Some of the changes proved to be correct, others not. Still F1 continued to grow. Today the sport is faced with some big challenges, something has to be done. These are really strange times in the world. You can't bury your head in the sand and assume there will always be big players in F1. Honda has shown that with the blink of an eye, a big player will leave much quicker than when they arrived. Even if nothing in the rules changed today, I would bet that in five years, only 65% of the factory teams will remain. If I were the organizing body, and the promoter, I would be doing everything I can to increase the interest of new teams. There once was a series with virtually no limits on technology, many teams with lineage and impressive credentials participated. Ferrari, McLaren, Chaparral, Lola, Chevrolet, Ford, etc. I myself never thought such a series could ever end, but it did. It was called the CanAm. For their time, they faced similar challenges as F1 does today. The difference is that CanAm did not have a world economy in near recession. The FIA has made some serious mistakes in judgement and approach so far, but at the same time, I do not believe they desire for F1 to fade away. Quite the contrary. Everyone is ready to condemn, but when it comes time for better ideas, no one steps up to the plate. FOTA has had plenty of time to bring their own thoughts to the table, but they didn't until they were faced with some rather unrealitic ideas brought forth by the FIA. Now we have a scramble to come to a comprimise, and to overcome the massive egos that exist on both sides. I still suggest that Ferrari should have been the leader with the better ideas instead of threatening to leave F1. But di Montezemelo is no different than Bernie Ecclestone, just sits on a different side of the table. Instead of thinking forward to a solution, Ferrari insists on keeping status quo. Now that really sounds selfish to me, and as stupid as the ideas from the FIA. If F1 falls apart, the blame isn't only the FIA, it belongs to all the teams with money that are afraid of being beaten by teams with smaller budgets and no lineage. If one can truly be honest, that does not say much about the character of a team you support.
I do believe the FOTA suggested changes that the FIA easily dismissed. So the teams did tried to find a solution to all these problems and Mosley just forgot about all these. And remember it is not only Manufacturers, Red Bull also issued a threat of leaving. I do find it amazing that a Drinks company has TWO teams in F1 and other manufacturing companies are afraid to join in. This is F1 not a cheap racing championship. So I do also disagree with this budget cap. Ever since I've watched F1 the shadow of Mosley/Ecclestone has been there and it seems they will be there until the day they die. How to get rid of them? It is not Luca being selfish, it is really a point where enough is enough. Astrand Oh and to keep on the subject besides from what Tony said: 1) Staging races where people actually want to see them. We need more races in America. 2) Better TV coverage in many countries, as I travel a lot i get to see the coverage in several different stations and it leaves much to be desired. 3) More ways to attract audiences, such as Red Bull's and Renaults road shows. 4) More driver PR, autograph sessions etc. 5) Of Course, nothing beats action on track. So for drivers to be more willing to pass more separation of points between places is a good idea. 6) No refuelling seems a good idea too. (But pitstop for Tire changes should be allowed) 7) Lose as much electronic aids as possible. This should be a He-Man sport. There are many many more, but by writing this i realized now more that this is not going to happen. Remember Mosely selling the TV rights of F1 for 100 years. These guys have lost all sense and reason. Bring a break away series. Grand Prix World Championship sounds nice.
A lot of truth in that. Sometimes I feel that we are trying to preserve a way of life that was dead before we were born
Mosley and FIA do not have the TV rights. The FIA is non-profit. Ecclestone owns the TV rights. You disagree with the budget caps, so to answer the original question, how to you attract new teams to fill the grid?
My bad it was Bernie the one who sold the rights for 100 years. Seems the two of them are part of the same evil entity. You cannot cheapen the F1 in order to get more teams. The best thing is to earn more from TV Rights, revenues and races, to share with the competitors more. The global exposition of brands should also make it profitable for teams. But if they want cheap racing they can go to NASCAR. Astrand
I do not think that budget caps cheapen F1, conversely spending a billion dollars does not make the sport any better. I doubt if the spectator will see any major difference on the track as an outcome of budget caps. Except that more teams could have the chance of winning races, and the racing will be closer. It will force the engineers to be more creative. You will not see cars that look like Formula VW. How many spectators even pay attention to the current budgets? I would like to know the budget for BMW, and for each of the Red Bull teams. How does Red Bull build a winning car with a budget that I would suspect is half of Ferraris? The point is self imposed budget caps already exist, making those budgets the same for everyone and low enough to not only attract new interest, BUT TO KEEP THE CURRENT TEAMS ON THE GRID. People ignore the fact that Mercedes nearly canned their F1 involvement a few months ago, not because of McLaren issues, but because of economic issues. I agree with you about TV revenues, but the question still remains, how do you attract more teams to F1? The odds remain, even if the current grid returns in 2010, the chances are that at least one team will drop out in the next 3 years. I believe that the contract with the promoters requires a 20 car grid. So how do you fill those two spots, and what if two teams drop out? Maybe three? TV revenues help with travel costs, but that does not pay for ongoing car development, salaries, etc.
Keeping 20 is the first concern. At one time the grid was 24 or 26, on a 2.5+ mile circuit, that is not too much.
I've always though that the customer car option is the best one. Like MotoGP you have the Tech 3 Yamaha, and the Gresini Hondas etc. But some teams complained about this. Such as Williams, which seems weird because they can also sell their Williams car to other teams. Astrand
Regarding budget caps, I believe that Toyota could cut their spending in half and still finish 9th and 11th if they wanted. Also think that Force India could cut their spending to whatever they wish and still finish last and next to last. When he bought Force India, did he really think he could spend 1/5 of Mclaren and beat them? He says now he cannot survive 2 years in. Does he expect now the sport to be dumbed down so he can compete like this is 3rd grade flag football? So now no Ferrari, but little Peter Winsdor get's to play ball. You want to know how the sport can survive with 3 teams? How long has it been since 4 teams competed for the championship? There ARE only 3 teams that fund the sport and if you think the Brawn situation is a sign of things to come..... If they want to cut their budgets and still lap around, so be it. If they want to spend on technology and go for the win, get after it. If they cut out Bernie, they would have much more revenue to share with the smaller teams and a guy would always want to spend some of his money running against the big boys. I see it 8 Sundays every fall when New Orleans Saints fans pile into the Superdome thinking this may just be the lucky year. And if the owner decides he has had enough, there are cities and rich guys waiting in the wings wanting to join the big show. "True sport" happens in the backyard, in all sports at the most elite level, it is big business. Winning in business in never about competing on a level playing field. The trick is to tilt it to your side through strategy and investment and sieze the advantage. If F1 wants to get away from that and have a smaller show, with more teams competing, then so be it. But the guys with big bucks will want to play somewhere else and their "show" will be bigger and more compelling. The other thought is what is a budget cap that is not absolute. Everyone has the same car, but Mclaren gets Hamilton/Vettel and Ferrari gets Alonzo/Massa because salaries are not part of the cap. So the next Schumi makes 100 million and Ferrari still wins...just stupid. A driver for Ferrari that makes more than what the teams spend? Lastly, and I am not at all against an organizing body looking at the economice viability of all its stakeholders, I just see that the FIA(or just the way Max goes about things) and Bernie controlling the revenue side, is not a good working structure for this sport to move forward. Get rid of Max, cut out Bernie, be fiscally realistic, and the sport will be better than ever.
Through a more equitable distribution of F1 revenues, it becomes financially achievable for a new team to run in F1 and at least break even, if not turn a profit. Through more equitable contracts with racetracks, fans can go see an F1 race for a reasonable sum. Furthermore, with more exposure in the heartland of where their cars are selling, other manufacturers like Lambo, Porsche, VW, Aston, Ford, GM, Peugeot, Nissan, Suzuki and such could reasonably expect F1 participation to turn a profit as well as a huge positive marketing/sales win.
