Post here all non technical related topics about Formula One. This includes race results, discussions, testing analysis etc. TV coverage and other personal questions should be in Off topic chat.
As the Indy split has shown both series will probably be followed initially. Bur inevitably there will be losses for both sides. I do not think that a FOTA managed race series would necessarily be better. If experience is anything to go by it will be a lot less stable and even more politics and bickering.
Formula One's fundamental ethos is about success coming to those with the most ingenious engineering and best ..............................organization, not to those with the biggest budget. (Dave Richards)
Fans will follow the racing. Whoever provides variety, interest and excitement. I want to see those guys battling it out with the fewest restrictions and complications.
xpensive wrote:I hope they will revive sportscar racing together with BMW and Toyota. Full bodied, high-tech, 3-liter prototypes of the kind we had in the early 70s with Ferrari, Matra, Alfa Romeo and Gulf-Mirage!
FOTA-GP could be run better but it would be starting from a clean sheet of paper, it would be cheaper for them to buy FOM and install their own FIA president.
I think that tech-oriented people, like the readers of this forum, would follow both series. I would do, anyway. But the average F1 viewer will follow the stars of the show, the drivers, and in that aspect Ferrari have an advantage over the "FIA-aligned teams" in the case of a breakaway series, as the team of the dreams of many drivers.
In the case of the existence of a manufacturer series with Ferrari and Alonso, the FIA series would have to deal with a significant drop in viewers in Italy and Spain, just to begin...
Dukeage wrote:FOTA-GP could be run better but it would be starting from a clean sheet of paper, it would be cheaper for them to buy FOM and install their own FIA president.
I read some speculations that Ferrari could buy A1GP instead.
xpensive wrote:I hope they will revive sportscar racing together with BMW and Toyota. Full bodied, high-tech, 3-liter prototypes of the kind we had in the early 70s with Ferrari, Matra, Alfa Romeo and Gulf-Mirage!
I'm not a flag waving Ferrari fan, but they are the benchmark that other teams need to beat year to year to be considered the best in the world.
To me, F1 is really a Mclaren/Ferrari game. They are so opposite appearing even though at the end of the day they are the same. One is an aura of pure science, and clinical precision. The other is a boisterous, passionate bunch who wear their heart on their sleeve.
Either way at the end of the day, they are there to race. Honda was another team that had the passion. It comes down to the owners/founders. Bruce, Enzo, Soichiro.
If Soichiro was still around, I think Honda would have remained an engine supplier, and I don't think he would have chosen to come on as a full team.
Toyota are just here to sell cars, and they know that requires a passionate, winning F1 team. OK, lets buy one! Sales are down? Money is tight? Retreat! Retreat!
I would watch the racers first, then the corporate advertising parade after.
To show this, when Ferrari talks about quitting, there is a message in the forum IMMEDIATELY. When Toyota says they might not continue next year, it took this forum FULL of F1 nutbars 3 days to comment on the article.
That says something about how the passion needs to be transmitted from the team to the viewer. I have not felt any passion from Toyota, only threats from management to perform, and money being shot out of a money cannon into the corporate hole.
Before I do anything I ask myself “Would an idiot do that?” And if the answer is yes, I do not do that thing. - Dwight Schrute
ernos5 wrote:this is a bit ridiculous, Ferrari, Renault and Redbull, comon they have to do somethings, there will only be a 16 car grid next season [-X
It's possibly much worse: Red Bull's withdrawal is actually 4 cars (RBR and STR), Toyota is also quite likely to go. That makes 10 in and 10 out, right?
Enzo Ferrari was a great man. But he was not a good man. -- Phil Hill
ernos5 wrote:this is a bit ridiculous, Ferrari, Renault and Redbull, comon they have to do somethings, there will only be a 16 car grid next season [-X
It's possibly much worse than that: Red Bull's withdrawal is actually 4 cars (RBR and STR), Toyota is also quite likely to go. That makes 10 in and 10 out, right?
Enzo Ferrari was a great man. But he was not a good man. -- Phil Hill
I voted Yes as you can bet DM would move RedBull to the new series as well.
PS, If FOTA-GP kept the promoter fees at a sensible level you can bet that a lot of the classic former F1 circuits would jump on the bandwagon like Adelaide (they still have the infrastructure and use it for V8 SuperCars yearly), Indianapolis, Long Beach, Montreal, etc, etc.
