1.What do you think to the news?
Strangely i don't feel excited or anything. One might say i did expect it would come to this.
2.If it happened, which championship (or both) would you follow?
I would watch the series that has Lewis, Alonso, Kimi, Button, Rubens, McLaren, Toyota, Ferrari, Ross Brawn, Adrian Newey etc etc. Who wouldn't? These are the guys that make the show - they are the product. I guess this is the time to test all those marketing theories about branding. Truth of the matter is that most fans don't watch F1 because of the name of the series, the name of the FIA president nor the name of the FOM CEO. I watch F1 because of the name of the teams, the name of the drivers and the brilliance of the engineers. I associate those names with skill, intelligiance and organization. When they move, i expect those attributes to follow them and thus me to do so as well.
3.Do you think it is just a form a brinkmanship on behalf of the leading F1 teams to get Mosley and Ecclestone back to the negotiating table?
As has been pointed out, these teams represent big corporates and it is not the way of corporates to engage in brinkmanship - at least not collectively. These guys mean business. You will find that the discussions to start a new series started way before this whole wrangling broke out. All these uncertainities we have been reading about Asian circuits such as Fiji and China relooking at their future in Formula 1 could well be as a result of secret talks that have been going on. Recall the warning from Bernie about FOTA approaching contracted circuits? FOM must have heard some leakages about their favorite tracks being approached to make that warning.
4.If that’s their ploy, who do you think blinks first?
In this one, FOTA has the upper hand, so expect FIA/FOM to blink first. FOTA has the substance of the sport on their side ie fans, sponsors and technology. FIA/FOM has contracts and legalities to defend their position. It is the classic dot.com change scenario of using regulation to prevent organic change. My fear for the FIA/FOM paddock is that FOTA has already thought of counter-strategies against the contracts and legal hurdles their protagonist is likely to throw at them. Basically, whichever way one looks at it, in FOTA eyes, they are having a series on thier terms in 2010. The choice is on the labelling not the content.
I was really nervous about this happening; I love F1 and have done for most of my life.
However, now that it has happened, I feel elated, really excited. With these teams, these drivers and the tracks that are available, I believe the 'fever' can really be returned to F1 (or whatever it will be called - even the name seems less important now).
I'm pretty sure the participants in the Premier League don't regret their breakaway in 1992, this is very much the same.
Good luck to the members of FOTA - I really hope you go through with it.
Bring it on.
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