I wouldn't be surprised to learn that what Ron has really been doing over the last couple of months is quietly laying the groundwork for the breakaway series. Talk about a labor of love!
"Your entry fee will be (pinkie in mouth) one million dollars!" (Oh right: that's far less than the $100M fines BM were passing around. Toss me a frickin' bone here.) FOTA has come up with their own way to reduce the GP budgets: Cut out FOM's fees. --- Could Sir Jackie and Jean Todt work together? But they really need a former team leader linked with a business lawyer. (I think Max was originally Bernie's lawyer, when Bernie was running Brabham.) And maybe ProSpeed and Lola to round out the field.
It was my understanding that McLaren and Brawn had not committed to break away. But, after a little fact checking, you are correct. My error, sorry.
IMO Ron Dennis and Jean Todt carry too much negative baggage. Both because of affiliation with specific teams and tarnished reps. What happened with Todt ? There is a reason he dropped off the map. Time heals all wounds.
I think Jackie Stewart would be a great head of FOTA, if they can get Richard Branson to float them some money, we are in business!
I'd go for a long-short - Roger Penske. Manage money - no one better than him. CEO of many companies. Fantastic racing/sporting background. Experienced in media/PR/tv. Everything Mike said is needed. Carol
We have a winner. Brilliant. One downside is that he is "just" an American. And makes too much money with his current activities to dabble.
That's actually a really good choice... the biggest problem would be that Penske has so much going on that he may not want to get involved. Then again, he is a racer at heart, and he would be taking on the head honcho role at the pinnacle of motorsport.
I liked the idea of Branson, but at the same time I think he has too much on his plate with all his other ventures. Dennis sounds like a great idea as well, but I think that even if there wasn't any favoritism on his part that fan's and teams would use that complaint in the future if things weren't going their way and the chips were falling to McLaren.
I'm with you here, but I think he has too much on his plate already (especially w/ just acquiring Saturn) to want to deal with the circus of running a racing series as big as this...
