More F1 teams joins boycott call for 2010 regulation changes
Yesterday, we brought you news that Toyota could quit Formula One if FIA president Max Mosley's proposal for a two-tiered budget system is put in place. But the Japanese team based in Germany – currently enjoying its best season so far – isn't the only one making noise. Ferrari has hinted it could jump ship and put its energy into Le Mans, instead. Mercedes-Benz has said it could cancel its F1 program, and BMW has reportedly done the same. Now, three more teams are joining the call for the proposed regulations to be annulled, or else.
Next up to the plate is Red Bull, which owns and operates both the Red Bull Racing and Scuderia Toro Rosso teams. Owner Dietrich Mateschitz has joined the ranks of disgruntled team owners, saying he will not field his two teams next season under the proposed regulations.
Renault has not quite gone that far, but team principal Flavio Briatore has said that the rules need to be changed, the fashion king comparing the FIA's proposal to opening discount stores on trendy streets. The FIA has set May 29 as the deadline for teams to sign up and pay their fees to race in 2010, but with Ferrari, McLaren-Mercedes, BMW Sauber, Red Bull, Toro Rosso and Renault threatening boycott, that leaves only Williams, Force India and Brawn GP lining up on the grid next year. Those three are expected to go ahead regardless, because as independent F1 teams, if they withdrew or sat a season out, they would have no other obvious places to race.
Even with several new teams lining up to join the field next year, Mosley can't seriously hold his ground against all the sport's biggest teams... can he? It's a high-speed game of chicken, and somebody's going to flinch.
[Sources: Autosport and F1-Live | Image: Diego Tuson/AFP/Getty]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Sandeep 4:37PM (5/11/2009)
"Mercedes-Benz has said it could cancel its F1 program, and BMW has reportedly done the same"
Does that mean BMW has threatened to cancel the program, or it actually canceled it?
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tuna 4:42PM (5/11/2009)
""Mercedes-Benz has said it could cancel its F1 program, and BMW has reportedly done the same"
MB has said it could leave F1. BMW has said the same.
tuna 4:41PM (5/11/2009)
"Even with several new teams lining up to join the field next year, Mosley can't seriously hold his ground against all the sport's biggest teams... can he? It's a high-speed game of chicken, and somebody's going to flinch."
F1 will be a joke without the big names and all of them could race elsewhere and already do. Given the weak economy, they probably wouldn't mind leaving F1 to give themselves some financial breathing room. Bernie and the FIA needs them more than they need him.
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Protzenegger 4:42PM (5/11/2009)
Subject-verb agreement, Mr. Joseph. "More F1 teams JOIN..." :)
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Harley Cook 4:43PM (5/11/2009)
F1 is getting so silly, keep the rules the same for 5 years and the costs will come down!
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mcampasini 6:28PM (5/11/2009)
+1 exactly the freakin rules change way to much from year to year especially this one from last. i dont know if you could even count this season as a real season with all miss understanding of the rules and all the bs drama. all the kers no kers diffuser no diffuser bs isnt helping either. something has to change here and its that bern has to go.
CHINO 4:43PM (5/11/2009)
How amazing would LMP1 look with the addition of Ferrari, McLaren Mercedes, BMW and why not a Red Bull LMP1 team...they're in every other form of racing already.
I love F1, but its becoming a big joke. Forget this year's shake up of the old guard...that is good for the sport. I am simply sick of all the drama off the track and the FIA deciding races days after the fact. I expect drama from the teams, they're at the highest level of competition. It Bernie and Max that we could use a little less drama from.
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audi_arena 5:48PM (5/11/2009)
I agree completely. I would love to see the manufacturers duke it out at lemans
Flea 4:44PM (5/11/2009)
the almost mandatory budget cap is ridiculous on several levels: if a team spends 200+ mil dollars per season, that also means they are keeping a number of people employed adequate to the amount of R&D that needs to be done.
If Ferrari, McLaren or Toyota had their budgets slashed to 1/3rd, they would have to send hundreds of people home.
Hundreds of people that studied and worked their asses off for years to get the dream-job of participating in F1.
I don't think Mr.Mosley should be allowed to decide about their careers from one year to the next.
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why not the LS2LS7? 9:11PM (5/11/2009)
Is F1 a jobs program all of a sudden?
Boo hoo, someone dreamt of working in F1 and couldn't. I dreamed of playing professional hockey. Weep for me.
ImSteevin 4:45PM (5/11/2009)
Formula 1 is eventually going to be max mosley doing laps by himself in a Prius
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Protzenegger 4:47PM (5/11/2009)
That actually made me laugh out loud.
rsfourever 5:31PM (5/11/2009)
don't forget, he'll be wearing S&M clothing!!
tnk479 8:36PM (5/11/2009)
Haha, good call!
Richard 11:54PM (5/11/2009)
don't forget.... with swatikas embroidered all over his S&M clothing....
zamafir 4:50PM (5/11/2009)
I’m giddy with excitement at the prospect of Ferrari entering LMP1 (however slim), provided they leave all their soap opera antics at F1. Nothing would excite me more as a motorsport lover than a Ferrari P1 car challenging the R15s and Peugeots, or a Ferrari P1 passing their GT cars. Plus we’d get gorgeous Ferrari race cars again.
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~D. 4:51PM (5/11/2009)
How's about we finally stick a fork in F1, call it dead, and recognize LeMans as the racing series that is the true successor to the great sporting legacy of the prewar era of Grand Prix racing.
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rsfourever 5:31PM (5/11/2009)
+1. well said.
Wes 5:49PM (5/11/2009)
I think you meant LeMons.
;)
zamafir 4:51PM (5/11/2009)
x2
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