Comments on: Update: Renault officially delays F1 decision

By: Update: Renault officially delays F1 decision | Formula 1 Blog.com < World Sports Update-..

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:40:40 +0000

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By: Ben

Ben — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 20:41:38 +0000

I’ll agree that are there are two clear arguments for both sides on the budgeting issue… and yes i’ll totally concede that NASCAR is the most boring form of motorsport around.
However Peter, isn’t writing a 5 year spec a cap restriction in and of itself? Forcing teams to commit to a standard that lays out a fair playing field is what i’m arguing. I personally think that the KERS/Double Diffuser endeavors, as interesting as they were, were just inappropriate and clashed with the Formula 1 standard. Fisichella would have won Spa this year if it weren’t for Raikonen having KERS equipped in his Ferrari. The name “Formula 1″ is the nomenclature for a specific set of rules and standards – I think it’s fair to say that there are more differences amongst the paddocks than there are similarities, which again undermine the very nature of competition.

By: JD

JD — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 20:26:20 +0000

I agree that there should not be budget caps. However, with unlimited spending we must be willing to accept less stability. Greater spending means greater financial risk. When things are going well, manufacturers spend; and when things are going bad, they retreat.

You can’t have unlimited spending and relative stability. Business and financial cycles won’t allow it.

By: JD

JD — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 20:14:07 +0000

Yes, however, these rules changes were known pretty far in advance. Michael Schumacher tested a 2009 downforce level car prior to the 2008 season. If manufacturers were to bail, shouldn’t they have done so prior to pouring all that money down the drain in 2009?

And Toyota were huge spenders in F1 every year they competed. It began with their ill-fated V12 in 2000. If anything, having to build a V10 from scratch in less than a year after the FIA scratched the V12 should have been warning enough nine years ago.

And don’t forget that these corporations, like Toyota, Honda, and BMW, can give as hard as they can get when it comes to politics. This is not a little guy-big guy fight. It’s bigs versus bigs.

Budgets were huge prior to all the rules changes. There have been tire changes and new areo regs throughout all this time, maybe nothing as drastic as slicks and 2009 aero. But manufacturers willingly spent millions on minute improvements in reaction to technical regulation changes.

By: PeterRiva

PeterRiva — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 20:03:19 +0000

I completely disagree with capping budgets… this ain’t communist Russia or China. This is the premier technology development motorsport. If you cap the budgets (or seek to hamper budgets with stopping testing) you may think you are being egalitarian, but you’ll create NASCAR all over again. I, for one, am not an idiot wanting to see the “show” every week with identical cars only painted to look different.
Want to make F1 affordable? Write 5 year specs… allow car developers to push against a fixed 5 year envelope. They can budget accordingly, they can plan PR accordingly, they can discover who the great drivers really are.