Amidst all the bits and pieces of F1 news this week, Force India's unveiling of their new livery, another possible buyer for Super Aguri and Kimi revelling in the speed of the Ferrari F108, GrandPrix dot com has the story that may mean the most for F1's future. Doubts have already been expressed regarding Champ Cars' ability to continue; now it seems that agreement has been reached between the owners and Tony George, Indycar supremo, for a merger of the two American open wheel series.
All I can say is, "Congratulations, Bernie, on missing the best chance F1 ever had of making an impact on the States." Instead of capitalizing on the damaging rift between the American series, Ecclestone kept his eye on short term profit and succeeded only in losing the USGP. Now the window of opportunity closes and F1 will find it much more difficult to regain a toehold in the biggest market in the world.
Bernie will have to try, of course. The manufacturers have made it plain that they were not amused when the Indy GP was taken off the calendar and pressure is mounting for a return to the States. When rumors escaped that the difference between Bernie's asking price and George's highest offer was a mere $10 million, sponsors protested that they would happily have coughed up the difference to preserve the event.
This time when Bernie goes back to Tony George, it will be with begging bowl in hand. With Champ Cars and the IRL united, Tony will be negotiating from a position of such strength that F1 will have to accept whatever scraps are offered. It may even be that Bernie is told that, contrary to his previous suppositions, it is not F1 that doesn't need the States, it's the USA that doesn't want to know. Well done, Bernie; your greed has done F1 a disservice so great that it dwarfs any good work you might have done in the past.
The most infuriating thing in the whole sorry mess is that Bernie was the only one who did not care about the USGP. In spite of its occasionally farcical exhibitions in the States, F1 has managed to build a solid foundation of American enthusiast support, the manufacturer teams are aware of how important it is to their sales to have a race in America and even Tony George did his utmost to keep the GP. Bernie's crass inability to accept that some races are worth making a loss on has demonstrated his unsuitability to continue as the man who decides who gets a race and who doesn't.
It is debatable anyway that such decisions should be at the behest of one man only. While Bernie has been instrumental in building the sport into the multi-million dollar enterprise it now is, we should not lose sight of the fact that it is not just a money-making exercise. There are plenty of sports that do not make a profit and are paid for by the enthusiasm and dedication of their participants and audience. Making a profit is merely frosting on the cake of a genuinely popular sport.
With Silverstone getting its annual Bernie bashing at the moment and now the Australian GP coming in for the same treatment, those who care about the sport must be asking themselves whether the fate of F1 is in the wrong hands. General consensus is that Max Mosley has long overstayed his welcome and it becomes clear that Bernie too is irreparably damaging the sport. When nothing is left but anodyne processions on featureless circuits in countries that can ignore the best interests of their citizens, it will be too late to realize that F1 is no more. The rot must be stopped soon or there will be nothing left to save.
Indianapolis was not a great GP. In many ways it was slightly artificial but its value lay in that it took place in the heart of American motor racing. Melbourne too was not as good a venue for F1 racing as was Adelaide; but it was in Australia, a country with a long history of F1 participation. And I hardly need point out that the British GP has been one of the constants of the sport, the first of its races and a classic wherever it is held. These races are the sport and no amount of money lost from Bernie's coffers will persuade me otherwise.
We live in exciting times. As F1 enthusiasts, we are witnessing more upheavals and change than ever before. The sport grapples with problems that will decide its future, however they are settled. And I really feel that the old men who brought the sport thus far are no longer relevant; they are mired in the aims and objects of yesterday, still proceeding from the same premises that made them rich and powerful, while all the time F1 heads down a road that will make it no longer a sport and not even a business, once the fans have melted away.
It is time for the old men to go.