From Autosport: Four-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Jeff Gordon, who has been a fan of F1 for years, does not see how a split could be good for either FOTA or the FIA, and said he cannot imagine the world championship being run without the traditional outfits. "I don't see how you have a Formula 1 series without a Ferrari in it," said Gordon. "I can't imagine the series out there without Ferrari or McLaren or Renault. "They have so few teams as it is now, I would be very, very disappointed to see that happen. I really hope they get it straightened out. I've never seen that work for any sport out there and my fingers are crossed that they're going to get together."
Those who tunnel vision on the IRL/CART split need to take a step back to a wider view. If "two series" is a guaranteed disaster, and what a disaster it would be to have two open wheel series at the same time, then how is it that Indy and F1 operate at the same time? Don't many of the complaints about the recent rules in F1 stem from rules created by copying Indycar? (At the same time that Bernie pulled F1 away from Indy, because he was upset that there were still Indy 500 posters around when F1 showed up two weeks after Memorial Day?) Part of the "governance" issues with F1 has been the trend to make F1 as much of a spec series as Indycar racing has become. (I'd guess that the trend to copy the Indycar spec is what made USF1 decide they could run an F1 team out of Charlotte.) Two "spec" open wheel championships might be a disaster. If so, then FOTA is right to return to a high tech manufacturers' series. Meanwhile, FOM fans can worry about the disaster of (Cosworth spec) BM-F1 trying to compete with Indycar.
