Is F1 at risk from a rival series?
Discussion
With the current trend of slowing down cars every year by continually removing technology, downforce etc - does this leave the door open for another racing series to tackle F1 more than any other time in history?
In the next few years, lap times will rise and F1 will become almost unrecognisable.
In the past F1 cars were the fastest things around a track, now the speeds will become more attainable and even surpass-able.
Just look at GP2, their laptimes are already uncomfortably close to F1!
Obviously the manufacturers will stick with F1 as it goes green in order to promote eco friendliness for their road fleet, but at what cost? By dumbing it down till no one watches anymore?
Once the 'Man Made Global Warming' bubble bursts (It's still just a theory, remember!)it may be too late for F1 to get back to the pinnacle.
F1 as a whole appears to be slowly letting it's guard down in an open market place
Thoughts?
In the next few years, lap times will rise and F1 will become almost unrecognisable.
In the past F1 cars were the fastest things around a track, now the speeds will become more attainable and even surpass-able.
Just look at GP2, their laptimes are already uncomfortably close to F1!
Obviously the manufacturers will stick with F1 as it goes green in order to promote eco friendliness for their road fleet, but at what cost? By dumbing it down till no one watches anymore?
Once the 'Man Made Global Warming' bubble bursts (It's still just a theory, remember!)it may be too late for F1 to get back to the pinnacle.
F1 as a whole appears to be slowly letting it's guard down in an open market place
Thoughts?
carbonfootprint said:
In the past F1 cars were the fastest things around a track, now the speeds will become more attainable and even surpass-able.
F1 is all about marketing and putting on a high value show, the speed relative to other cars isnt as important as the image they are trying to portray.
"F1 cars were slower than CanAm cars by quite a big margin in the late 60's, early 70's."
And were massively popular for it too.
If F1 creates a gap in the market, someone will at least try fill it.
Imagine if only one or two manufacturers left for a rival series - say Toyota and Bmw, and started racing modified 04 spec cars on slicks - I know what I'd be watching...
This is also where the 'power' of Ferrari comes into play, if they left, the whole show would collapse - a sad reality
Edited by carbonfootprint on Thursday 20th March 01:17
No it isnt. The FIA run most of the worlds motorsport and any circuits worth their salt need to be in their good books so if another series started to rival f1 from outiside the fia's jurisdiction then theyd wheel out the sanctions.
The GT series in the late 80's early 90's was getting better spectating numbers than f1 and the knobbled it to let f1 back to the top. They did the same with truck racing.
It isnt just a case of being more exciting than f1 etc, you'd have to take on and beat the FIA and all their tv contracts and race circuit contracts.
The GT series in the late 80's early 90's was getting better spectating numbers than f1 and the knobbled it to let f1 back to the top. They did the same with truck racing.
It isnt just a case of being more exciting than f1 etc, you'd have to take on and beat the FIA and all their tv contracts and race circuit contracts.
carbonfootprint said:
This is also where the 'power' of Ferrari comes into play, if they left, the whole show would collapse - a sad reality
Thats a myth exploited to the max by Ferrari to screw the rest of the padock, racing was going long before Ferrari turned up, and will continue long after they disapear. No team is bigger than the series, it's been proven many times in the past already. People forget how utterly hopeless Ferrari were for a huge part of it's history because of the recent success, it wouldnt have been such a big deal for F1 had they folded in the Berger/Alesi era, the italians would have been upset and following would have dropped there, but in the global scheme of world sport, so what.
These things go through phases, when Alonso packs his bags it's likely F1 will shrink massively in Spain and go back to the tiny suported sport it was before. It would be interesting to see how F1 figures have fared in Germany since Michael retired.
The GPMA made a serious effort to break away. Ultimately they were defeated by the sweetheart deal between Bernie, Max, and Three-card Monty, who scratched each others' backs until they were raw.
Ferrari are the most popular team, no question about it. But they are far from being indispensable.
What mostly defeated the GPMA were things like:
- Bernie's long-term exclusive contracts with most of the major circuits,
- Bernie's long-term deals with the major broadcasters,
- Min's, er, Max's FIA having sovereignty over most of the national motor sports organisations around the world,
- The major sponsors' associating "Formula One" (which trademark is owned by the FIA) with the pinnacle of the sport.
Also recall that the FIA's other self-appointed role relates to public road driving, and as such it has potentially much more leverage over the basic businesses of Toyota, Honda, BMW, Renault, and Mercedes in that way than it has via this racing lark. The FIA can have a big influence on international safety standards, emissions and mileage requirements, road construction and other things that profoundly affect the carmakers.
I would like nothing better than to see a rival series destroy F1, so that the latter's puppetmasters were left holding their limp dicks. Alas, it is not likely to happen.
What should happen is that the corrupt swine in the European Commission should rescind the FIA and Bernie's special exemption from monopoly laws.
http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?refe...
Ferrari are the most popular team, no question about it. But they are far from being indispensable.
What mostly defeated the GPMA were things like:
- Bernie's long-term exclusive contracts with most of the major circuits,
- Bernie's long-term deals with the major broadcasters,
- Min's, er, Max's FIA having sovereignty over most of the national motor sports organisations around the world,
- The major sponsors' associating "Formula One" (which trademark is owned by the FIA) with the pinnacle of the sport.
Also recall that the FIA's other self-appointed role relates to public road driving, and as such it has potentially much more leverage over the basic businesses of Toyota, Honda, BMW, Renault, and Mercedes in that way than it has via this racing lark. The FIA can have a big influence on international safety standards, emissions and mileage requirements, road construction and other things that profoundly affect the carmakers.
I would like nothing better than to see a rival series destroy F1, so that the latter's puppetmasters were left holding their limp dicks. Alas, it is not likely to happen.
What should happen is that the corrupt swine in the European Commission should rescind the FIA and Bernie's special exemption from monopoly laws.
http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?refe...
Ferrari have been in control for years - wasnt there an issue where Enzo refused to paint his cars red unless he got his way (may be slightly off with the details!)
They have HUGE branding value and yes, they know it
If anyones power is overstated it's the FIA's. What could they possibly do to stop a breakaway series that gets interest from the public, which intern generates interest from the broadcasters, which generates interest from the circuits...
It could all happen quite easily - what has stopped it happening in the (recent) past with the likes of A1 etc is that F1 has always been faster and regarded as the pinnicle of engineering
They have HUGE branding value and yes, they know it
If anyones power is overstated it's the FIA's. What could they possibly do to stop a breakaway series that gets interest from the public, which intern generates interest from the broadcasters, which generates interest from the circuits...
It could all happen quite easily - what has stopped it happening in the (recent) past with the likes of A1 etc is that F1 has always been faster and regarded as the pinnicle of engineering
Edited by carbonfootprint on Thursday 20th March 01:51
Edited by carbonfootprint on Thursday 20th March 01:51
Actually the only real rival to f1 is nascar, which ironically is practically the lowest tech motorsport possible. I also doubt us Europeans will ever quite accept oval racing in any great way and nascar track racing is just funny.
Maybe the Indycars had a shot at being a worldwide rival to f1 but we all know what happened there
Hopefully they get it sorted out with the new series, but I cant help feel that what theyve ended up with is exactly the series Tony George didnt want in the first place and it'll all fall apart again. Its saddled with spec chassis and engines too.
Maybe the Indycars had a shot at being a worldwide rival to f1 but we all know what happened there
Hopefully they get it sorted out with the new series, but I cant help feel that what theyve ended up with is exactly the series Tony George didnt want in the first place and it'll all fall apart again. Its saddled with spec chassis and engines too. carbonfootprint said:
Middle east? I dunno...
The Fia could be castrated if need be...couldnt they?
The middle eastern countries want a show piece to show off their countries to investors and show off how much oil money they have. They want ferraris basically and the tracks that dont have f1, dubai etc all want f1 and wouldnt do anything to risk their chances of getting it. The Fia could be castrated if need be...couldnt they?
GPMA at knockhill would be good for me though
the fans dont matter they just make the grandstands look pretty,in china thyre usually stuffed full of the army to fill the seats, its all about tv viewers and given that the wrc is relegated to Dave for 1 hour a week I cant see much interest in a start up racing series, manufacturers or not, from the networks. They barely show any of A1 as it is.
I can see the headlines now;
-Whispers of a New Rival Series to F1-
-New Series called *Insert catchy name* claims could be up to 3 secs faster than current F1 cars-
-BMW's new *catchy name* car breaks Jerez lap record on debut test-
-BBC looks set to broadcast new *catchy name* season-
I can only dream...
-Whispers of a New Rival Series to F1-
-New Series called *Insert catchy name* claims could be up to 3 secs faster than current F1 cars-
-BMW's new *catchy name* car breaks Jerez lap record on debut test-
-BBC looks set to broadcast new *catchy name* season-
I can only dream...
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