The battle between the major teams, the FIA and the rights holder, FOTA, is at fever pitch. Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz, Toyota, Renault and BMW have signed a $50m bond not to jump ship and enter the 2010 championship unconditionally within the next 30 days.
Key players are so entrenched now that a civil war is highly possible. Unusually, even the drivers are engaging in the political battle and defending their teams. Somebody is going to have to capitulate for the sake of the sport. There are 10 teams currently in the field, with persistent rumours of one or more leaving the sport. It’s been a long time since genuinely new teams entered the sport, bringing with them new racers and new generations of engineering and mechanical talent.
We can’t sit and watch as the current teams become seven, running three cars each. Every remaining engine manufacturer would then likely be powering a third of the grid. To attract capital and sponsorship, new teams need to know the financial parameters and the technical regulations to be on the grid next March. It’s already very late in reality, given the enormity of building a team, designing a competitive car, and passing the rigorous crash tests.
This is why the entry deadline for 2010 was brought forward to May 29, with an announcement of the championship line-up on June 12. At least 10 new teams have made provisional entries. This begs the question of where all these people have been in the past few years, and why many of them are not even racing in other categories. Only one or two will make the grid next year.
The new teams are being romanced with significant financial help and promises, and they will run to regulations that allow unlimited engine revs and moveable aerodynamic devices, to name but a couple of goodies. This makes no sense whatsoever for the cost-saving direction F1 has been taking in recent years. The expensive engine power war would surely start over.
Williams and Force India have already committed to the 2010 Championship and the FIA and FOM are insistent that they have a binding agreement with Ferrari, although Ferrari have publicly denied that. There has also been open talk about a breakaway series.
The value of any new team being in F1 would be diminished if they were not competing against the likes of Ferrari. David v Goliath is always a great story, but if it becomes David v David no one is going to watch that.
I see the dilemma in my own family. My 18-year-old son, Alex, is racing in F2 and like any ambitious young racer, F1 is his dream. He’s aiming at three or four available F1 seats. The rest are taken.
New teams are essential for the future of F1 and to nurture fresh driving talent. My brother, Robin, is a director of Lola, which is one of the most credible of the potential new 2010 entries. He is excited about the opportunity and he thinks a capped-cost F1 is essential and desirable.
I hope my son and brother can experience F1 as I have been privileged to do, but I don’t want F1 diluted too much. Big money hasn’t hurt Premier League football, where players change teams for the equivalent of the proposed F1 budget.
There is a solution. Give the big teams the reasonable flexibility and timescale for cost reductions they need as going concerns, providing they help the new boys out with the promised engine packages. They must also share more common performance parts, as they do tyres and engine control units already.
The F1 marketplace will find its own value level; it simply needs the cohesive stability that is hopelessly lacking at the moment.
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