Looking Ahead 15/06/2009 With Mark Webber joining Nick Heidfeld, Fernando Alonso and Nico Rosberg in declaring that any thoughts of F1 employment next year must await the outcome of the FIA/FOTA dispute, it seems that the silly season has been put on hold for the moment. While Lewis Hamilton has opted for sticking with McLaren wherever the team finds itself, others want to see how things progress before looking at their options.A Williams leads the pack...For the new teams on the FIA's list, however, no such hesitancy exists. USF1 has announced that the team will be selecting their drivers soon and already has a list of potential recruits. True to their original intent, the team intends to employ Americans if at all possible, leading to intense speculation as to which drivers might be eligible.The Spanish team, Campos GP, is also looking at drivers on a nationalistic basis to begin with and has expressed interest in Marc Gene, Pedro de la Rosa, Javier Villa and Roldan Rodriguez. The first two are currently test drivers with Ferrari and McLaren but have had some experience of racing in F1 and could supply much-needed assistance in developing the new car therefore. But Villa and Rodriguez are not exactly prime candidates for F1, their records in the junior formulae being less than stellar so far.It leaves us with a situation where the existing teams are having to delay any preparations for 2010 while new and untried teams happily go about putting things in place. Some are even saying that they have begun work on the design of their cars, an interesting thought since the rules for next year cannot be finalized while the FIA and FOTA are still debating them. One must assume that the new teams are confident that the FIA will win and the rules be exactly as stated therefore.If that is so, it may be a bit premature for USF1 and Campos to be looking at drivers already. As the likelihood of a mass departure of FOTA teams increases, it also becomes possible that some of the present drivers will appear on the market. To have confirmed a few old warriors and some fresh-faced wannabes before that happens could mean the new teams having to pass up on some pretty big names. It would be a strange F1 were the driver list to be inhabited mainly by new names while the heroes of yesterday kick their heels or go in for sports car racing.Williams and Force India would be in the best position, with tried and tested drivers in place but able to take on a big name if one becomes available. Their experience in constructing competitive cars should also give them a big lead over new teams coming in and it would be a pretty safe bet that the 2010 champion would be in a Williams FW32.But is that a viable series? Who would watch F1 were it composed of two existing teams and a horde of new entrants with little known drivers? We hear constantly of how difficult it would be for FOTA to set up a rival series but how much attention is given to the FIA's difficulties in persuading viewers to watch a sport populated by teams and drivers few have heard of and in which the eventual winner is known before the season starts?It seems to me that both sides are flirting with a disaster similar to that which occurred in open wheel racing in the States, the CART split that created Champ Cars and Indycars, neither of which succeeded in keeping the attention of the fans. Both FOTA and the FIA maintain that it is the intransigence of the other side that prevents agreement being reached and both are now threatening to publish their version of events to prove themselves in the right. And who do we believe?Perhaps all future meetings of the parties should be held in public with full television coverage and minutes taken by an independent authority. That would put an end to the confusion of differing viewpoints being reported, at least. Let them argue it out with all the world watching and then we shall see just who is being intransigent and who genuinely wants agreement.Of course, it will never happen and the sport might be destroyed without us ever knowing what really was the sticking point. If I had to guess, I would say that the real agenda is Max Mosley himself, with Luca di Montezemolo determined that he must go and Max equally adamant upon staying. And meanwhile Rome burns in the background...
Clive
donwatters I think you're probably spot-on, Clive. The battles have reached a point where I can't imagine the mfgs agreeing to participate without making sure Max was removed from his position with the FIA. But then I'm just a poor country boy and perhaps can't see or understand the underlying politics of it all. Date Added: 15/06/2009
Clive Don: I think it all comes down to egos in the end. Many of those involved care about the sport but the real fight is for power and it concerns only a couple of the players. Date Added: 15/06/2009
Steven Roy The first moves of the silly season seem to be starting. According to the most recent issue of Autosport BMW want Rosberg to replace Heidfeld unless Kubica leaves in which case Heidfeld would stay. Toyota are trying to sign Kubica to replace Trulli but they really want Alonso but he is holding out for Ferrari. Date Added: 15/06/2009
Pink Peril I was at a conference last week & so missed most of the F1 news, but thought that the crisis had been averted with the FOTA teams. Seems I have a bit of catching up to do... Date Added: 15/06/2009
Clive Steven: I suppose life goes on, even with the world due to end on Friday! Date Added: 15/06/2009
Clive Peril: It looked as though agreement was inevitable for about five minutes last week. Since then, things have moved on again and now it seems that a mass withdrawal from F1 is quite likely. And tomorrow I suppose all that will change again... Date Added: 15/06/2009
Nick Goodspeed If the FIA want to survive as a credible entity, they must get rid of Mosley, Donnelly and co.. If the teams want to survive and expect more teams to join, the financial deal with F1 must be changed. I don't believe this is the same as the CART / Indy feud. There were two egomaniacs in the USA and no auto manufacturers. There motivations and goals were not at all like the F1 equivalents. The rule makers and enforcers of CART and Indy were far less prejudiced than what we have in F1 at the moment. The teams, drivers, track owners and manufacturers are unanimous in their displeasure of the crooked goings on in F1. CART and F1 was a corporate ego war with to hard and thickheads smashing antlers. Date Added: 16/06/2009
Nick Goodspeed Sorry, last line should read "CART and Indy was..." Date Added: 16/06/2009
Lee Well it looks as though Max has now sacrificed F1 for the good of his ego. We are now increasingly looking at a very dead F1 and wondering if the teams will go to either the Le Mans series or take over something like A1GP. I for one can't wait now for the teams to leave and set up a new fresh series leaving max and bernie to rot in hell. Especially after it has now been revealed that Maxs evil little helper (Donnelly) has been trying to talk one to one with fota members in a bid to cause splits. If MAX leaves and F1 survives then I will be very happy (although Gollum will still be there). I will also be happy if the teams manage to set up a new series but if they give in and max stays then I will not be watching next year. Date Added: 16/06/2009
donwatters I find it curious that B. Ecclestone has been pretty quiet during this current dust-up. Other than to make generalized statements about how everyone should calm down, step back and see the big picture, he's not publically offered any suggestions or solutions on how to solve the problem. He's got a lot on the line here so I'm assuming he's working like crazy behind the scenes. If he would just join FOTA and support reasonable rule changes, I bet he could get away with not having to pay the teams more money. Just a thought. Date Added: 16/06/2009
Clive Nick: I think the similarity to the CART split is that GP racing could end up as two series, neither of which has the following to claim superiority. It is possible that one would develop sufficiently to become the one that matters but it would take time and, in the meantime, the viewers will become used to watching something else (as they did in the States with NASCAR).No one wants a split but every day it becomes more likely. This, surely, is madness. Date Added: 16/06/2009
Clive Lee: I know exactly how you feel. That is my natural reaction too but I am most annoyed that this state of affairs has been allowed to come to pass. A bit of common sense and flexibility in both sides could have ended the problem months ago. Date Added: 16/06/2009
Clive Don: Bernie's silence is indeed very telling. With Mosley's press release today it appears that things have gone too far for even the little miser to stop.I cannot believe that he will let things fall apart without putting up a fight, however. He must know that CVC's revenue is threatened by current events and I suspect that he is trying to force some form of agreement on the warring parties behind the scenes. That must be our last hope, at least.You are right that Bernie needs to throw in his lot with FOTA. He has no leverage on the manufacturer teams and cannot change their minds on the issue therefore - but Max he can push around a little by warning that he will take his money out of F1 and put it into a rival FOTA series instead. Even that might not be sufficient to move Max. Date Added: 16/06/2009
Nick Goodspeed Ecclestone can put whatever money he wants, or at least whatever he has left after his divorces, one from his wife the other from all the ridicuous long term contracts he's made to who knows how many people. The problem for him is that he will never, ever get such a lucrative deal as he did in his "Great F1 sell out." Now that the great focus is on money, thanks to Mosley, the teams will bargain as one. If the track owners are at all smart, they will do the same. What made such a mess in the US was that George played the patriot card ie. "Indianapolis, THE great American race. What the Americans do best is sell things and George knew how to appeal to the "whats good for Chevrolet is good for America" crowd, the Harley Davidson owners and all those indoctrinated into US nationalism. If a new series were to reinstate Long Beach and Indy (for example), and use a good ad agency in the process, they could get huge crowds. Ecclestone, with his quick buck philosophy, is not selling his races to countries where the common people buy much of any product advertised. He is going for shear numbers but the numbers, when analyzed, aren't so great. In countries like the USA, France and Canada, many expensive items produced by the manufacturers are sold. The manufacturers don't just supply the cash for the development and production of racing cars, they pay a great deal of the advertising bill too. If they decide to move there will be a year of turmoil or so, but after that... Date Added: 16/06/2009
Steven Roy The current situation suits Bernie perfectly. All the disruption is driving down the value of CVC's contracts and at the same time making it more appealing for them to sell and get out. If they do decide to sell there would probably only be one buyer and the proce would be a lot less than he was paid in the first place. If there is a breakaway he can then transfer his contracts into that and after 3 or 4 years sell his rights again at another fat profit.Bernie cannot make a partizan statement just now because he will have convinced both sides he is with them. Whoever wins he will go with. It will take a lot to convince me he didn't trigger this whole thing. Date Added: 16/06/2009
Nick Goodspeed Steven: If a new series is put together, neither FOTA nor those who back the venues will want anything to do with Ecclestone. United they can run their own series and collect the profits themselves. Why would they possibly want to feed easy cash Ecclestone any more? Nick Date Added: 17/06/2009
Steven Roy My understanding Nick is that the teams are committed to Bernie for another two seasons.Bernie is very good at screwing money out of people and if he were to buy the rights back with the view of building something new and selling them in a few years he could take a smaller percentage than CVC take now and still personally be better off. I would love to see him cut out of the deal and hung out to dry but i don't see it happening. Date Added: 17/06/2009
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