The 2007 season a catalyst for a new "F1" series?
Discussion
Will all the BS of 2007 make the major players McLaren, BMW, Honda, Toyota and possibly Renault split off and make a new series without all the FIA/Ferrari nonsense? They nearly did it before, will those plans resurface?
The bias this year was so obvious. Rules are rules, whats the point if you don't adhere to them?
No wonder Porsche never bothered with F1...
The bias this year was so obvious. Rules are rules, whats the point if you don't adhere to them?
No wonder Porsche never bothered with F1...
... back on topic, I think that since the Concorde agreement still hasn't been finalised it's not something you can rule out.
Having said that, at the moment I get the feeling that the GPMA break-away series is nothing more than a bargaining chip they're not actually willing to put on the table - my guess is that Bernie knows this is the case.
Having said that, at the moment I get the feeling that the GPMA break-away series is nothing more than a bargaining chip they're not actually willing to put on the table - my guess is that Bernie knows this is the case.
another 3 points said:
I would guess Porsche don't need the exposure, like Audi/VW they're shifting enough models.
Porsche run the Porsche Supercup as a support race at most of the European GPs so they get plenty of publicity that way off the back of the GP. Back on topic, a GP World Championship would have a similar effect to the Champ Car/IRL split. Wouldn't do anyone any good.
Edited by johnph on Sunday 18th November 23:18
It ain't going to happen.
The manufacturers went a long way down this road for several years before concluding that it was a non-starter.
Amongst the many problems:
- The obvious example of the disastrous CART/IRL split, as referenced above,
- The inevitable diversion of sponsorship funding,
- The FIA owns the rights to the term "Formula One" and "F1",
- The FIA has a ninety-years (remaining from original hundred) exclusive contract with FOM (Bernie),
- FOM has long-term contracts with the best broadcast media,
- FOM has long-term contracts with the best circuits,
- Ferrari (biggest draw by far) has signed (after having helped write) new Concorde Agreement tying itself to FIA and FOM (this is origin of FOM's $100M payment to Ferrari), and
- FOM has Japan locked up with contracts with both Toyota (who own Fuji) and Honda (who own Suzuka).
IINM, all of this year's regulatory outrages were aimed at but one team - McLaren. One can think of that as the inevitable result of that team's hubris, incompetence and desperation, or as the result of the regulator's personal vendetta and resentment towards the McLaren boss, who succeeded in life precisely where the chief regulator had failed, and who had been central to the WMSA challenge to the FIA.
In contrast, the other teams seemed to rub along with the FIA pretty well this year. Maybe they were just smarter than McLaren, maybe they were luckier, or maybe the FIA is following a divide-and-conquer strategy in which you pick off your intended victims one at a time, so they are not galvanised against you.
Regardless of the cause, the result was that the other manufacturers now have less motivation to criticise the regulator than they did a few years ago (when, for example, the regulator made it impossible for them all to race at Indy).
Especially if, after the regulatory insanity of this year, you as a manufacturer were reassessing whether you really wanted to be in this sport, you would not contemplate risking the hassle, expense and potential reputational backlash of being part of a rebel series.
The manufacturers went a long way down this road for several years before concluding that it was a non-starter.
Amongst the many problems:
- The obvious example of the disastrous CART/IRL split, as referenced above,
- The inevitable diversion of sponsorship funding,
- The FIA owns the rights to the term "Formula One" and "F1",
- The FIA has a ninety-years (remaining from original hundred) exclusive contract with FOM (Bernie),
- FOM has long-term contracts with the best broadcast media,
- FOM has long-term contracts with the best circuits,
- Ferrari (biggest draw by far) has signed (after having helped write) new Concorde Agreement tying itself to FIA and FOM (this is origin of FOM's $100M payment to Ferrari), and
- FOM has Japan locked up with contracts with both Toyota (who own Fuji) and Honda (who own Suzuka).
IINM, all of this year's regulatory outrages were aimed at but one team - McLaren. One can think of that as the inevitable result of that team's hubris, incompetence and desperation, or as the result of the regulator's personal vendetta and resentment towards the McLaren boss, who succeeded in life precisely where the chief regulator had failed, and who had been central to the WMSA challenge to the FIA.
In contrast, the other teams seemed to rub along with the FIA pretty well this year. Maybe they were just smarter than McLaren, maybe they were luckier, or maybe the FIA is following a divide-and-conquer strategy in which you pick off your intended victims one at a time, so they are not galvanised against you.
Regardless of the cause, the result was that the other manufacturers now have less motivation to criticise the regulator than they did a few years ago (when, for example, the regulator made it impossible for them all to race at Indy).
Especially if, after the regulatory insanity of this year, you as a manufacturer were reassessing whether you really wanted to be in this sport, you would not contemplate risking the hassle, expense and potential reputational backlash of being part of a rebel series.
flemke said:
- Ferrari (biggest draw by far) has signed (after having helped write) new Concorde Agreement tying itself to FIA and FOM (this is origin of FOM's $100M payment to Ferrari), and
How can the governing body of a sport who is meant to be impartial make payments to one team? It's no different than say FIFA paying 70$million to AC Milan, could you imagine the back pages if that happened?sjn2004 said:
flemke said:
- Ferrari (biggest draw by far) has signed (after having helped write) new Concorde Agreement tying itself to FIA and FOM (this is origin of FOM's $100M payment to Ferrari), and
How can the governing body of a sport who is meant to be impartial make payments to one team? It's no different than say FIFA paying 70$million to AC Milan, could you imagine the back pages if that happened?Riverside said:
sjn2004 said:
flemke said:
- Ferrari (biggest draw by far) has signed (after having helped write) new Concorde Agreement tying itself to FIA and FOM (this is origin of FOM's $100M payment to Ferrari), and
How can the governing body of a sport who is meant to be impartial make payments to one team? It's no different than say FIFA paying 70$million to AC Milan, could you imagine the back pages if that happened?That is, the organiser (FOM), the biggest team (Ferrari) and the regulator (FIA) got together and the three of them cut a deal for the next Concorde Agreement. (At the time, it was even reported in the press that this deal included for Ferrari the exclusive right to veto any future technical reg to which it took exception! I have seen no further references to this.)
Surely the proper way to do such a thing is for the two commercial parties, FOM and Ferrari, to work out their own deal by themselves, and then for the organiser to go to the regulator - who is supposed to be neutral - and apply to run his series under the regulator's auspices. The proper way to do it is not for one of the teams, plus the organiser who was previously granted by the regulator one of history's all-time greatest sweetheart contracts, plus the same regulator to get together in a smoke-filled room and work out what is best for the three of them, whilst 90% of the current entrants have no idea what is going on.
No doubt the FIA would have some excuse for why they needed to be consulted on the agreement. Perhaps so, but there is no reason why the three parties should have needed to make a joint press release announcing their deal. To have made that joint press release suggested to the outside world that the three were much more in common cause than they ought to have been.
And, as a result, was Ferrari favoured by the regulator at all this year...
Why, cynical observors might think such a thing, but one could not possibly comment.
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