Renault F1: It looks like the rush for the exit has begun

Joe Saward agrees with you - as do I!
http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2009/11/04/is-formula-1-dying/

 

That's true to some degree:
If you are a manufacturer who builds everything from scratch, it gets expensive and you will end up footing a big bill. But you get a lot of global brand exposure and potentially some glory with that. That's the payoff and it worked in good economic times when the manufacturers had money left over from their car production.

If you are a "garagiste" (independent, kit car builder), then it can be profitable if you are smart enough to have your sponsors and the Bernie TV money pay for your expenses. That's why people like Williams or Sauber have been doing it for years. They love and they make a living off of it.

None of this is really new or much different from the past. The only difference is the economic climate and as somebody pointed out, only now do we see the fallout from it because contractually many teams were bound to sit it out.

But so what? For now the garagistes will take over and once the car manufacturers start making profits again, they will return to the table because in the end they all know that F1 is the king of motorsports and as such comes with the highest laureats there are. It is cute to win Le Mans, but it pales in comparison to a F1 championship in the bag.

 

Much as I agree with the above.

I think these to meddling clowns have been cut to much slack.

Night races at odds with green issues lighting up the track.
Races cancelled because Bernie won't listen to the weather forecast's.
KERS farce how much money spent!!.
Basic rules are totally cocked up.
New tracks in the areas where who cares.
There has always been enough money sloshing around in F1, unfortunately it's these two meddling gits that have held the purse strings for too long .
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No argument on all that.
With Max gone (fingers crossed) we may see more sanity and consistency from the FIA in terms of the rules and their application.
Bernie however remains in control (for how much longer?) of the commercial side and may or may not recognize that the prevailing winds have changed.
Stay tuned for late breaking developments

 

There is certainly that.

But let's not toss the baby out with the bathtub: The new tracks are built in countries where the local government pays big bucks to Bernie. That money flows in parts back into the team's pockets financing the sport. If you cut all the Bahrains, Abu Dhabis, Sepangs etc of this world, there wouldn't be enough $$$ left.
The night and dusk races are only a logical consequence of that since you want to preserve the prime time TV spot for F1 in Europe (and we in the US get to see them at least in the morning as opposed to the middle of the night). And at least here in the US nobody gives a green hoot about the power consumption. I love the US!

KERS was a good idea, but totally the wrong moment for it.

While I loved to see the Brawns win the title, allowing the super diffusers was stupid: That diminished the anti aero movements of the rules and made passing difficult again. I'm not saying this as a Ferrari fan who got the short end of that stick. Superdiffusers should have never been allowed and should be banned for next season.

Mad Max is gone and that's a good thing. As for the other guy, it remains to be seen how much of a racing fan God is.