My ideas for F1.
Discussion
Just to warn, this is a Looong post.
Ok. We all know what a bad state F1 is in atm, and after a night of watching Motors TV (DTM, BTCC) I have come up with some ideas that should hopefully make F1 more interesting for us to watch and more financially viable for the teams to compete in.
ALL the teams need to break away from Bernie. his grip on F1 is killing the Sport. The potential dropping of the Silverstone Race because they can't Stump up the £9 Million that he wants for Silverstone to have the priveledge of staging his Charade is ridiculous.
So, The teams set up their own World Championship series. This series has a Group of 'Directors' which oversee the proper running of the series. Potentially the FIA could still be at the top of the tree, but I doubt they would want to. The directors should be appointed by the teams, and be selected members of each team (maybe).
The Championship is funded by the teams not the circuits, each team pays a fee. This fee covers running costs for the Championship. This is paid at the beginning of each season and covers all the admin costs of staging the championship. Each circuit pays the championship a cut of all the Gate Takings. Maybe 30%-45%. This means the Circuit doesn't need to stump up any money before the season. It also encourages the Championship to keep itself interesting. The less interesting it is, the less people go to the circuits, the less money the Championship gets. The gate prices are set by the cahmpionship after consultation which all the circuits. The cost of a ticket is set at the same for each race. Each team must cover all other costs themselves, but this must not excede the yearly budget. The cost of tranporting from one circuit to the next is not included.
The teams yearly budget is limited. This is a set amount decided by the teams every 3 years. It is set at a level that gives new teams a chance to get a foot in the door, but gives existing teams a good enough budget to make developments and improve the cars. Any team that excedes the yearly budget (an account of every teams spending in a year must be submitted to the Board at the end of each season), will be penalised heavily.
Most of the current rules and regs set by the FIA would remain, although I would like to see the removal of the Grooves in the tyres, and stop the Bernifying of the circuits. Refuelling at pit stops would be stopped, there is currently too much racing happening in the pits and not enough on the track. There would also be power and torque limits to bring the cars closer together in terms of outright performance. Race distances would remain the same. Pit stop boxes are drawn from a hat rather than based on the previous years performance.
The current qualifying format is shite. I think a move to the DTM SuperPole setup would be alot more interesting. A free-for-all track session then the top 10 doing a superpole sounds a lot more appealing to me.
Any thoughts/opinions?
Discuss.
Ok. We all know what a bad state F1 is in atm, and after a night of watching Motors TV (DTM, BTCC) I have come up with some ideas that should hopefully make F1 more interesting for us to watch and more financially viable for the teams to compete in.
ALL the teams need to break away from Bernie. his grip on F1 is killing the Sport. The potential dropping of the Silverstone Race because they can't Stump up the £9 Million that he wants for Silverstone to have the priveledge of staging his Charade is ridiculous.
So, The teams set up their own World Championship series. This series has a Group of 'Directors' which oversee the proper running of the series. Potentially the FIA could still be at the top of the tree, but I doubt they would want to. The directors should be appointed by the teams, and be selected members of each team (maybe).
The Championship is funded by the teams not the circuits, each team pays a fee. This fee covers running costs for the Championship. This is paid at the beginning of each season and covers all the admin costs of staging the championship. Each circuit pays the championship a cut of all the Gate Takings. Maybe 30%-45%. This means the Circuit doesn't need to stump up any money before the season. It also encourages the Championship to keep itself interesting. The less interesting it is, the less people go to the circuits, the less money the Championship gets. The gate prices are set by the cahmpionship after consultation which all the circuits. The cost of a ticket is set at the same for each race. Each team must cover all other costs themselves, but this must not excede the yearly budget. The cost of tranporting from one circuit to the next is not included.
The teams yearly budget is limited. This is a set amount decided by the teams every 3 years. It is set at a level that gives new teams a chance to get a foot in the door, but gives existing teams a good enough budget to make developments and improve the cars. Any team that excedes the yearly budget (an account of every teams spending in a year must be submitted to the Board at the end of each season), will be penalised heavily.
Most of the current rules and regs set by the FIA would remain, although I would like to see the removal of the Grooves in the tyres, and stop the Bernifying of the circuits. Refuelling at pit stops would be stopped, there is currently too much racing happening in the pits and not enough on the track. There would also be power and torque limits to bring the cars closer together in terms of outright performance. Race distances would remain the same. Pit stop boxes are drawn from a hat rather than based on the previous years performance.
The current qualifying format is shite. I think a move to the DTM SuperPole setup would be alot more interesting. A free-for-all track session then the top 10 doing a superpole sounds a lot more appealing to me.
Any thoughts/opinions?
Discuss.
This is the umpteenth thread started on this topic. As usual, there are some interesting points but, in the end, virtually none of them would be workable in practice as follows:
Teams set up their own World Championship
This is what, in effect they have already done. The Concorde Agreement of 1982 basically wrested all commercial control of F1 from the individual circuits and placed it in the hands of an individual representing the teams, namely one Bernie Ecclestone. Technical regulations remained in the hands of the sport's governing body, FISA and later the FIA, although most changes had to be agreed by the teams before they could be implemented. Up to now, the team owners/managers have not wanted to be involved in commercial dealings. They have wanted to concentrate on their individual teams. That is why Bernie got the job in the first place. Although they grumble and moan about Bernie, most of the team managers have become very rich under his regime and, when it comes to the crunch, are reluctant to oppose him to any meaningful degree.
The Championship is funded by the teams
In order to "fund" something, an operation must have sufficient income to raise the funds. Where do you propose the income comes from? Most team income these days comes from sponsorship and share of TV monies. Circuit gate receipts are kept by the circuits - and in many cases are insufficient to cover the costs of hosting the race (this is Silverstone's fundamental problem). Even if gate receipts were partially shared out to the teams (which they would receive on top of their other sources), it could place the circuits themselves in an even more precarious financial position.
Having the same admission price at each circuit is impractical - it being a "World" championship and therefore subject to rate of exchange fluctuations and local economic factors. A standard admission price might only work within the EU - if there are any GPs left in the EU that is!
Setting a Fixed Budget for Each Team
I presume you mean limiting the expenditure of the teams to a fixed amount. Well, it sounds like a good idea but would be impossible to police. As an accountant, I can assure you what is defined as "expenditure" can be literally "made up" by an operation. Even after 500 years of the development accounting theory, accountants still have difficulty in defining what expenditure actually is.
I could not envisage expenditure being limited without income being limited as well and that would be just as difficult.
I agree totally with your view on tracks and pit stops. They would be relatively easy to implement and should be put into effect as soon as possible.
Teams set up their own World Championship
This is what, in effect they have already done. The Concorde Agreement of 1982 basically wrested all commercial control of F1 from the individual circuits and placed it in the hands of an individual representing the teams, namely one Bernie Ecclestone. Technical regulations remained in the hands of the sport's governing body, FISA and later the FIA, although most changes had to be agreed by the teams before they could be implemented. Up to now, the team owners/managers have not wanted to be involved in commercial dealings. They have wanted to concentrate on their individual teams. That is why Bernie got the job in the first place. Although they grumble and moan about Bernie, most of the team managers have become very rich under his regime and, when it comes to the crunch, are reluctant to oppose him to any meaningful degree.
The Championship is funded by the teams
In order to "fund" something, an operation must have sufficient income to raise the funds. Where do you propose the income comes from? Most team income these days comes from sponsorship and share of TV monies. Circuit gate receipts are kept by the circuits - and in many cases are insufficient to cover the costs of hosting the race (this is Silverstone's fundamental problem). Even if gate receipts were partially shared out to the teams (which they would receive on top of their other sources), it could place the circuits themselves in an even more precarious financial position.
Having the same admission price at each circuit is impractical - it being a "World" championship and therefore subject to rate of exchange fluctuations and local economic factors. A standard admission price might only work within the EU - if there are any GPs left in the EU that is!
Setting a Fixed Budget for Each Team
I presume you mean limiting the expenditure of the teams to a fixed amount. Well, it sounds like a good idea but would be impossible to police. As an accountant, I can assure you what is defined as "expenditure" can be literally "made up" by an operation. Even after 500 years of the development accounting theory, accountants still have difficulty in defining what expenditure actually is.
I could not envisage expenditure being limited without income being limited as well and that would be just as difficult.
I agree totally with your view on tracks and pit stops. They would be relatively easy to implement and should be put into effect as soon as possible.
Slick tyres
Manual (H pattern or sequential) gearboxes
Smaller wings
No refuelling
No traction control
Voila!
Cheaper
More margin for 'driver' error
Exciting racing where cars can follow close enough to overtake.
Why piss about with setting up new championship and fiddle with rules. Just alter a handful (see, there;s less than five things to alter on my list) and see the rewards.
Other than that, ignore F1 in it's current form until it shrivels up and dies. Be in about 3 years at it's present run.
Manual (H pattern or sequential) gearboxes
Smaller wings
No refuelling
No traction control
Voila!
Cheaper
More margin for 'driver' error
Exciting racing where cars can follow close enough to overtake.
Why piss about with setting up new championship and fiddle with rules. Just alter a handful (see, there;s less than five things to alter on my list) and see the rewards.
Other than that, ignore F1 in it's current form until it shrivels up and dies. Be in about 3 years at it's present run.
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