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...