Sometimes I wonder whether F1 news is managed by the same people who run the British bus system - you go for days without a news item to get your teeth into and then three come along at once. Today has turned out to be a three-bus day, with all sorts of interesting and important developments scattered through the news sites.
Mark Webber - "And I can chill a few lagers at the same time!"
The first, I think we can categorize as Rumors I Wish Were True: Eurosport reports that a new F1 team is about to be launched in America. If, as someone suggests in the Comments, this is just an early April Fool joke, it is cruel indeed - American F1 fans have been so badly treated in the last few years that they do not deserve such a heartless raising of hopes to be dashed tomorrow. Yet it is hard to see how this wonderful story could be true. With the economic climate so depressing and a team such as Honda apparently unable to find a buyer, what on earth would encourage anyone, even Peter Windsor, to choose this moment to enter the sport?
That is without considering the FIA system of inspecting applicants for entry at specified times. Granted that F1 is desperate for new teams on the grid but would they really be prepared to ignore their own rules so precipitously? Unhappily, I think we have to consign this one to the realms of fantasy.
Then we have the latest shots in the FIA/FOTA war, with both sides preparing the ground with proposals for the future of F1. The FIA are preparing a "white paper" (what's wrong with yellow or even pink?) outlining their intended implementation of measures to cut costs further in 2010 whilst preserving the technical innovation aspects of the sport. It remains to be seen exactly how they are going to do this, especially as they promise to introduce yet more standardization of components.
Meanwhile, the teams have been discussing their own suggestions for the way forward, these being rather more conservative than the FIA's and concentrating on slashing test and research costs rather than introducing more standard parts. The one radical item is that they might look at the results of the recent market research campaign to find out what the fans want to see. Good grief, is it really possible that we might be heard for a change?
Reading between the lines, it is pretty obvious that there is a struggle on the way. The FIA can think of nothing but standardization; the teams, especially the manufacturers, will do anything to avoid it. In the past, the FIA has been able to enforce unpopular measures but falling grid numbers and the lack of new entrants mean that the teams now have the upper hand. If they depart, the FIA will have no F1 to dictate to. It is going to be an interesting battle.
The third bus is the news that Mark Webber has turned to the dubious science of cryogenics to assist with a rapid recovery from his broken leg. For those who don't know, cryogenics concerns itself with the idea that we can freeze those with incurable diseases and hold them in a state of suspended animation until such time as a cure is developed. Apparently being subjected to the extremely low temperatures used in cryogenics helps the body in all sorts of unlikely ways and Mark swears that he feels all the better for it.
If nothing else, at least this shows that all the money spent on such phantom hopes as cryogenics might prove beneficial after all. Keep sending the millionaires off to the deep freeze if you will - we're happy if freezing the butt off a F1 driver keeps him in the game!