Its official - FOTA to launch breakaway series!

[faksta]

Originally Posted by Jack_Bauer

I fear we could end up with two lame duck championships next season instead of the one half-decent one that we have at the moment.

Exactly what I'm afraid of. Formula 1 will have a bunch of teams with no expertise and little knowledge, the teams which are almost unknown, not taking Williams, Lola and Prodrive (Aston Martin?) into account and that fistful of 'use someone else's name' teams. Besides, a lot of new drivers, yet being good ones, but not so famous. Well, if FIA's rules won't work too good next year, it would be Frank Williams's season maybe.
On the other hand, the alternative championship will have almost all of current Formula 1 known names, but they will also have a lack of expertise in business , no contracts with tracks (although we may see lots of interesting tracks coming back next year - imagine A1, Dijon, Kyalami...) and they won't be able to use Formula 1 or F1 name.

What interests me much is what side will the evolution of the cars go. Will they reject current regulations and turn back to last year's ones or something completely new or will they leave them as they are?

[Reason]

Interesting...is he siding with FIA or FOTA?

autosport.com - F1 News: Ecclestone urged to broker peace deal

[IBrake4Rainbows]

So how does Bernie control the rights to these teams, if I may ask?

The entire point of this, my understanding is is to seperate themselves entirely from F1 in it's current Guise.

without the teams there is just the name and a set of other teams willing to take their place, if I understand correctly (I probably don't, but whatever), so how much really would the name be worth. If fans can't wave a Ferrari flag at an F1 event, who's really going to go? (hypothetical, yes there are other teams....)

If it's just a name change then yeah, it's going to be a real let down. But a fundamental shift in how this race series operates, and putting a focus back on the track instead of in the boardroom? thats got to be a good thing.

[Matra et Alpine]

Because Bernie owns all the commercial rights and broadcast rights and track access rights and promotion rights and probably the rights for the tampons used by the pit babes He has contracts and multi-year deals all signed and on the tables.
So turngin their back on Bernie may make those inaccesible.
Also, it's the top formula open wheeled single seater I think he had signed to him way back decades ago. So even a name change I don't think woudl hack it. WOudl need different rules, different formulas and possibly even differet make-up of the organisatinos.

[IBrake4Rainbows]

Isn't that what they are trying to organise? an entire shift in the way things are done within these organisations?

Tracks are a little bit of a double edged sword really - Bernie makes circuits PAY to be included on the F1 calendar. if the FOTA breakoff comes up with a better deal I doubt they'll knock them back. I mean, it's a seperate race group, right? they don't use these circuits only for F1.....

Commercial Rights? again, a good lawyer may argue it's only the F1 brand he owns. Name it something else and it might pass mustard.

Sponsors will follow the teams and whoever is going to get the most TV and airplay. You have to imagine the newer, fresher and more exciting race series will have that sewn up. Also with the launch of FOTA they'll be a huge amount of fanfare.

TV rights are probably where this may fall down. if TV networks are locked into multi-year deals covering F1 and suddenly their audience dries up, you can bet it won't be the TV networks copping the brunt of it....

It is, and always has been about money. Who has the most, and where it's being distributed. Get that right with FOTA, make it lucrative for teams, sponsors and event organisers...And Bernie will be out of a job.

[RacingManiac]

Bernie is a business man, he'll side with whichever side with potential to make money(or in this case I think, lose less money) and provide better show. At the end of the day he had nothing to do with rules, cost cutting, or governance. I think FOTA's goal is to get Max out of the picture, which one way or the other they might just do it this time. I still think the 2 sides are still playing chicken, FOTA have responded by stepping on the gas more, now really its FIA's to lose. I think FIA stands to lose a lot more since the credibilty of F1 being the pinnacle will be challenged once you get the big guns out of the picture and replaced with budget F1 teams(and Williams). And really I doubt the likes of Prodrive will remain interested especially if Dave Richards and his middle eastern backer ceased to see the value to compete in a championship without the big names like Ferrari, Mercedes or BMW. Lola and N.Technology have already withdrawn entry citing that as reason.

[Ferrer]

Originally Posted by Kitdy

It's the end of F1 as we know it... And I feel fine...

But putting aside that R.E.M. gem, I think this is just the biggest thread that FOTA has made and eventually Max will have to blink and next year we'll be racing in F1 again and all will be happy and that. Part of me hopes I'm wrong though and there is a split and there is disaster and there is chaos... I just doubt it.

Chaos may actually make F1 (or anything related with it) interesting.

[Reason]

Mad Max has spoken: autosport.com - F1 News: FIA to launch legal action against FOTA

And: The FIA and FOTA

[LeonOfTheDead]

Random thoughts:
- Bernie will be with FIA, me thinks.
- I'm afraid FOTA could just decide whichever season they liked the most, and copy-and-paste its rules to develop the new series
- Probably if this continues this way, FIA will call back all the real players it dismissed the first time a listed was published
- If I was Lola, Prodrive and Epsilon Euskadi I wouldn't accept FIA's rethinking on my entry for 2010, and if it was possible and economically viable, I would rather join the FOTA in the new series.
- I'm afraid FIA's F1 would be pretty lame to watch, with fake teams like Brabham which will not obviously enter (as they don't even have a clue on what designing a race car implies) and therefore a pretty empty field
- I'm afraid this will ruin a bit Williams' reputation
- Even with the FOTA's F1 being just a mere copy of FIA's F1 of a certain previous season, it could still be cool to watch as the (hoped) changes could fix some of its issues.

I'm interested.

[fpv_gtho]

FOTA next year will undoubtedly just be the 2009 F1 regulations, possibly minus KERS. Dont know what theyre planning with things like the refuelling and tyre warmer bans though. Theyre going to have a big enough challenge setting up a series, they dont all need to worry about starting from scratch designing new cars or making significant modifications to their current plans.

[Kitdy]

Do you really think this is gonna happen though fpv? To me it seems like it's just another threat used against the FIA and the FIA will have to counter this with caving to the rules demands of FOTA.

[faksta]

Originally Posted by fpv_gtho

FOTA next year will undoubtedly just be the 2009 F1 regulations, possibly minus KERS. Dont know what theyre planning with things like the refuelling and tyre warmer bans though. Theyre going to have a big enough challenge setting up a series, they dont all need to worry about starting from scratch designing new cars or making significant modifications to their current plans.

Now that you spoke about tyres, is it possible for any tyre company to develop such a high level racing tyre in half a year? I doubt FIA will allow Bridgestone to support both series.

And by the way, what are Cosworth's possibilities in producing engines? How much of them will they be able to provide for 2010 F1 season? If FOTA comes out, Williams and Force India may well lose their contracts and all the entrants will run Cosworth units.

[Lukeno52]

All teams on Cosworths? 1970s here we come!

[Matra et Alpine]

INtresting that Bernie said to the Beeb before quali today that "there are 3 parts, FIA, FOM and FOTA and we should all do what we do best and not try to do it all".
So reckon we'll get back to the Status Quo.

[RacingManiac]

Originally Posted by faksta

Now that you spoke about tyres, is it possible for any tyre company to develop such a high level racing tyre in half a year? I doubt FIA will allow Bridgestone to support both series.

And by the way, what are Cosworth's possibilities in producing engines? How much of them will they be able to provide for 2010 F1 season? If FOTA comes out, Williams and Force India may well lose their contracts and all the entrants will run Cosworth units.

Michelin can probably do it.....not too sure how happy Ferrari will be if it comes down to that...

They probably will still ban refueling, Brawn said it last time that regardless where they will be racing they probably won't change that. the size of the fuelcell afterall is a major design parameter...