We may have heard the first shot in the next battle for Formula 1.
While others are expressing “regret” over Toyota’s exit — and that includes the official FOTA response — Ferrari is not holding back on its response today.
In the Toyota exit news, Maranello sees the eventual “death” of all the teams, and by extension, Formula 1, if there is not serious changes.
And Ferrari is not buying the “economic downturn” argument one bit.
The team presents this argument politely enough, with an extended reference to Agatha Christie’s “Ten Little Indians,” but that does not mask the team’s point: F1 is slowly being killed off.
Here it is, in full:
We want a different closing chapter
Maranello, 4 November 2009 – It seems like a parody of Agatha Christie’s “Ten Little Indians”, published in England for the first time in the year 1939, but reality is much more serious. Formula 1 continues loosing important parts: over the last 12 months Honda, BMW, Bridgestone and this morning Toyota announced their retirements. In exchange, if one could call it that, Manor, Lotus (because of the team of Colin Chapman, Jim Clark and Ayrton Senna, to name a few, there is hardly more than the name), USF1 and Campos Meta arrived. You might say “same-same”, because it is enough if there are participants. But that’s not entirely true and then we’ve got to see if next year we’ll be really as many in Bahrain for the first starting grid of the 2010 season and how many will make it to the end of the season.
In reality the steady trickle of desertion is more the result of a war against the big car manufacturers by those who managed the sport, than the effects of the economical that affected Formula 1 over the last years. In Christie’s detective novel the guilty person is only discovered when everybody else is dead, one after the other. Do we want to wait until this happens or should we write Formula 1′s book with a different closing chapter?
Given that the FIA has a new president in Jean Todt — a person we all link naturally with Ferrari but who all know left Maranello under poor terms — this statement is first and foremost directed at him. Max Mosley’s legacy has to be in the background, as does Bernie Ecclestone’s continued management of FOM.
I had been wondering if the muted reaction to the Bridgestone announcement that it, too, was leaving the sport was because everyone knew this news about Toyota was coming within a day. I suspect that might be the case.
No matter what, any thought of it being a quiet off-season is gone. We might be back close to the rancor of June, when FOTA threatened to pull out of F1 and start its own series.
Surely that threat looms, even with the Concorde Agreement?
We will have to see what Bernie and Todt’s reactions are. And whether other manufacturers join Ferrari — there was not much sign of that in the FOTA release.
Your thoughts? Are you back worrying about the future of the sport? Or is Ferrari just puffing out its chest?
Ferrari are 100% correct. Max as much as said so many times. He doesn’t deny his distain for the manufacturers.
For me, its a shame to see this happening, the manufacturer involvement in F1 brings with it a sense of participation for the fans that you just don’t get with the independant teams. I can’t go to the Williams dealer and buy a Williams, there will be no USF1 roadcar and my next purchase likely won’t have a Cosworth under the hood (at least not one that is identifiable as such). Don’t get me wrong, I like the independant teams and they have their place, but without the manufactures, at least for me, the sport loses something…unfortunately that something could be my interest.
Honestly, Toyota’s participation in Formula 1 brought me back to the sport, $2B or not. The Subaru/Solberg combo held my interest in WRC, but the manufacturers all dropped out as well and really killed it for the fans. While it’s nice to see those independents at the front or on the podium, it somehow feels cheaper. Be it a weak economy or pretentious jerks who have it out for the manufacturers and their higher budgets, SR is right. Without the manufacturers, your fan base suffers.
And if you haven’t read “Ten Little Indians” it is a really good book.
Its nice that Ferrari continue to issue statements that aren’t your typical corporate, PR friendly memos. This was their counter to the FIA’s “we told you so” statement released earlier today.
I’m more concerned over the tire situation though. Pirelli is saying they are making no commitment to the WRC after this year out of financial considerations. If they can’t cover the 11 million dollar WRC contract 2011-2013, I don’t see them as a F1 tire supplier candidate.
I am also intrigued by that story as well. The Bridgestone departure really surprised me.
This weeks Rencken column on Autosport offers his thoughts on both the tires and Toyota exits. He also links back to a column from last summer regarding the history of tire aspect ratios. Why we have those big ol sidewalls in F1.
Well, let’s face it, this is another indication the global economy is far from recovered and that scared money does not get invested (or go racing).
I find it curious that despite the fact that we are witnessing the end of the manufacturer teams era, there are just as many new teams willing to step in to replace them. Of course, when one considers that international sporting leagues could become a leading instrument (outside of the banking sector) to move large wealth holdings, it should not surprise anyone that most of these new teams have ties to either Swiss banking institutions or Arab holdings companies.
With the American dollar under siege from all other currencies and, more importantly, sliding in value against hard commodities like gold & oil, it’s now apparent that persons or institutions with large US dollar holdings are dumping the dollar in favour of Swiss francs (which has real gold reserves backing it) or just about any other currency.
For decades, the untold story of Formula 1 is how much wealth is moved internationally through the sport. The lavish expenditures and the astronomical team budgets are just a fraction of the total volume of money in play. With team budget cap regulations having been scrapped, F1 is able to maintain it’s appeal for individuals who wish to move dollars out the country without detection.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/5586543/Is-this-the-death-of-the-dollar.html
To be sure, Swiss bankers have been busy over the past year, jet-setting around the world collecting large deposits. The Arabs are flush with US dollars and they are busy raising castles out of the sand in an effort to deplete their dollar holdings. Indeed, over the past decade the Arab nations have been investing in F1, steadily increasing their holdings in Ferrari, McLaren, & Sauber and have secured two GPs and a WRC event in the region. The Chinese, meanwhile, are trying to spend their dollars even faster on a 30 yr stockpile of raw materials to sustain their unreal growth.
The fact that the sport is losing the manufacturers and acquiring new participants that are little more than nefarious shell companies without pretense (Quadbak) shows that F1 is becoming less about the sport and more about … something else.
OH MY GOD… YOU MEAN TOYOTA LEFT!!!!!
(ok not really)
Toyota leaving IMHO has nothing to do with the FIA or the FOM it has to do with Honda and the fact that they have sucked for about 2 billion dollars worth of investment. Ferrari can blow smoke all day but the fact is that when the “war” came the teams formed FOTA and shot down the budget caps, KERS and other items that would hurt the manufacturers.
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If there are fewer manufacturers, then Ferrari has less power versus the FIA. So they had a vested interest in Toyota staying in F1 and every reason to be upset if they left.
Having said that, yes, Mad Max forced through his agenda and didn’t play nice. But let’s also understand that Ferrari enjoyed a sympathetic relationship with the FIA during it’s Schumacher era, which helped grow the Ferrari legend. I doubt that Ferrari would have the same pull if they still had Alboreto and Johansson driving the cars.
They have to hope that the “T” in FOTA holds out. Recall the last time they tried this, it was the GPMA where the “M” was manufacturers. This time they knew to include all teams not just manufacturers.
BUT! Williams and Campos et. al. will be more likely to dissent in this configuration thus reducing control.
Well I for one thought when JPM took Williams back to the front, it was awesome and had the flavor of the little guy shoving his fist in Ferrari and Shummies face. Like sod off….
The independents while they are not making road cars….the engines they run (ran) are made by someone. Can I get one? Not without winning the lottery. McLaren? Can I get one? Again…lottery winnings needed. So to say the manufacturers actually are giving me technology born on the track is a bit laughable. Tires? Nope. My tires need to last 70,000.
Brakes? Nope. The freeway would be a disaster area if we ran carbon-carbon brakes. KERS. Yeah, right. Toyota and Honda and others already HAVE that technology pretty well down. $80,000 steering wheel? Nope. I do have Enkei RPF1 wheels on my race car but that was by accident. They were the lightest I could afford. Engines? Nope. Try making an F1 engine push the Family Truckster with water thin lubricants.
Where does that leave us? My car does have aerodynamic mirrors.
Yes, F1 will cease to be F1 without the manufacturers…..but it wont die real soon.
Cant use NASCAR as an example of what happens when a series becomes a SPEC series…most cant tell you if it’s a Ford or Chevy without the decals.
So what to do? Kidnap Todt and Mosley….install Ari and lets get on with racing!