FOTA starts a breakaway series

[Michiba]

surely the breakaway is going ahead now after Max's comments over the weekend. Surely the egos within the FOTA group what nothing to do with him now. The only way to stop a breakaway would be for him to resign.

[gcdugas]

Max's "everything is OK" spiel isn't washing. Trying to save face, Max knows he is toast. Lawsuit off, lawsuit on... he can't stay on one page.

Bernie is looking to switch sides delicately but I think the teams aren't to warm to that idea either. The teams are enjoying immense public support from the fans. The "FOTA Rules - Max OUT" banner was more photographed that the race winner. Here is Bernie saying that there is nothing to stop the teams.

Bernie:

"I think the teams will get a lot of what they want; they need a good, stable governing body - infact, the federations (in sport) never tend to be popular."

Flavio says no deals are happening and that FOTA is moving ahead with their plans, promoters, tracks, etc. Howett says every thing is "moving along that vector".

Hey Max? Where are all your new teams? You get to be king of go-carts...

[dave34m]

Wow this has been getting interesting, I hope however this finishes that it will finally be an end to MM and BE.

How many times have we had to endure the nonesense that they continually sprout. I cant believe the damage that they have inflected on this sport in the last 18 months alone. So I hoping that this will finally be an end to both of them.

The sport can only be better off without them

[The FOZ]

Wow this has been getting interesting, I hope however this finishes that it will finally be an end to MM and BE.

Moseley is expendable, Bernie is not. He's an astute enough businessman to go where the money is, and take the "Formula One" name with it. If that means jumping on board with FOTA, or ditching Max to get FOTA back to the table, he'll do it.

[jamsbong]

http://en.f1-live.com/f1/en/headlines/n ... 1034.shtml

Bernie still believe he is in a strong position. Looking at the withdraw of FIA lawsuit means there is not binding contract, and all these "commitments" has been mind games that Max has been playing.

Max is still playing the mind game at different directions to try and split up the unity of FOTA. So far, 2 teams had already shown the white flag, ie. Williams and FIndia. Bit by bit, I think Max is playing a clever mind game that is slowly weakening the FOTA unity.

FOTA needs to decide what to do next. They can continue the split and work really hard and setup their own championship. The good thing of doing that is they are in control. I personally will follow FOTA and watch them.
They could also stay back in F1 and demand whatever they want with a condition that they will sign up a long contract (Bernie wants that). The good thing is that business wise everyone wins but they go back to do what they always do and FIA remains in control.

Seems like there is still quite many episode to this DRAMA.

[dave34m]

Bernie may want to be involved but I for one think that any future series would be far better off without him. He may have done many good things for F1 in the past but the direction it has gone recently has damaged the sport (IMO).

Im sure noone likes to see these huge new tracks empty of fans, while fan favorites are being discarded every year.

[The FOZ]

Bernie may want to be involved but I for one think that any future series would be far better off without him. He may have done many good things for F1 in the past but the direction it has gone recently has damaged the sport (IMO).

Im sure noone likes to see these huge new tracks empty of fans, while fan favorites are being discarded every year.

Like him or not, he kinda-sorta owns Formula 1.

[dave34m]

LOL, yeah but maybe there will not be much left of that shortly.

If the FOTA series does actually start next year and F1 is left with nothing then MM and BE can blame no-one but themselves.

[Racing Passion]

Can Bernie follow FOTA teams in a breakaway series and leave Max alone?

[jamsbong]

Bernie has the money and he is driven by money only. He does not care bout fans or who is winning. So it depends whether FOTA can offer him a better deal or FIA.

Max on the other hand has been dictator all this time. I don't think he wants to step down nor listen to FOTA.

[paused]

It sounds like Max Mosley is surrendering. There isn't an awefull lot of alternatives for him with the FOTA getting serious about the break away. I wonder how FOTA will get on with Bernie. If Bernie gives them the kind of money they want and grant them a veto on deciding GPs they will probably be happy. I just don't see how FOM can avoid going bust over this.

Yeah, he now realises that FOTA is not messing about!

FIA drops legal actions against FOTA, Mosley ready to talk

I guess this is the final installment in a very sad and at times bewildering tussle. As they say "don't make threats you aren't prepared to carry out as one day someone will call your bluff". I think Max has painted himself into such a corner, insisting what everyone knows is garbage. F1 is more than Ferrari and F1 would survive if Ferrari leave etc,etc. Bernie knows that is crap and that is why the special monies and veto were given in the first place. The 2005/2006 split was only averted because Ferrari jumped and now we all know why.

It's clear that this issue has been primarily driven by Ferrari's this time round as they were incensed that their special power was not defferd to by Max. Now that Ferrari are the driving force it is much simpler for the others to fall in line behind. I guess they all know which way things will go even if a split happens so we can presume that there is a much tighter sense of solidarity (William and Force India aside.)

So I am saying it is the final installment for Max as I cannot see any possible future that leaves the 3 protagnists in the ring together. There are really only 2 possible outcombes;

FOTA split proceeds and there are 2 championships

or

FOTA agree to race in FIA WC

Now in either scenario I do not see that Max could survice. If there were a split, I think that there would be such a backlash against the current administration that an alternate president would be brave enough to stand and would therefore garner enough support to depose Max. After all I think the situation has been that Max has kept power by scaring everyone away from opposing him, rather than a real reflection of internal support. I think many member associations are just waiting for an opponent they think can win before crossing the floor as it were.

Personally I think FOTA continuing within F1, is the most probable outcome. This of course will be orchestrated in a deal to see Max out. After all if Ron can be shoved out of his own team by Max, then I am sure FOTA can make Max go if they are all determited too. That aside FOTA teams do need the FOM revenues to race and their sandwich is long way from making a picnic (meaning there is no gauranteed income stream from FOTA yet). I think is more likely that;

Max will go
FOTA sign up to 2012 on current income but with a set technical regs or at least an agreement on how they can be modified (i.e. not on FIA's whim)
In 2011 FOTA will tell Bernie increase our share of Revenue or we walk again. So the long game is to get controll of the governance and stop changes being made every 5 mins and once that is settle negotiate a better income share. I think Bernie knows a thing or too about negotiating and that is drive it a hard as you know it will take before breaking, but what every you do, don't break the golden goose.

So Max willl be gone, Bernie will still have fistfulls and I might be singing Ding dong the witch is dead (at least about old spanky!)

[ISLAMATRON]

Ferrari alone isnt ---, we are basically watching F1 without Ferrari this year, they went the the first 3 races without scoring a point. The strength in FOTA lies in the combonation of those 8 teams, the drivers and all their collective sponsors.

[CHT]

Bernie has the money and he is driven by money only. He does not care bout fans or who is winning. So it depends whether FOTA can offer him a better deal or FIA.

Max on the other hand has been dictator all this time. I don't think he wants to step down nor listen to FOTA.

Actually I am thinking the opposite.

Bernie's empire will collapse if FOTA walk away with a new serie and the future of F1 will now depends what Bernie can offer to FOTA (TV revenue).

[paused]

Ferrari alone isnt ---, we are basically watching F1 without Ferrari this year, they went the the first 3 races without scoring a point. The strength in FOTA lies in the combonation of those 8 teams, the drivers and all their collective sponsors.

Agreed (well the 2nd sentence anyway), but what I said was that since Ferrari position is so entrenched, that helps keep FOTA strong. The previous split was thwarted because Ferrari jumped and that ultimately undid the alliance

[andartop]

Ferrari alone isnt ---, we are basically watching F1 without Ferrari this year, they went the the first 3 races without scoring a point.

Watching JB winning 6 out of 8 races might be enough to keep you interested but trust me, for me and a few hundred million other F1 fans half the joy of watching F1 these days is to see Ferrari chasing the Brawns, RBRs and Toyotas and - hopefully - eventually catching them and challenging for victories again. I reckon we're halfway there, and will most likely be at least 3rd on the WCC come the end of the year.

Now, if only McLaren and BMW managed to keep up to Ferrari's pace of improvement, that would make for a much more interesting championship overall..