REPORT: Formula One teams, drivers get serious on break-away series
FOTA team principals and drivers meet at last weekend's Turkish Grand PrixIt's all or nothing for the Formula One Teams Association. The body representing the majority of the teams is still in the process of negotiating with the FIA over the proposed drastic budget cuts, but insists that the FIA has to take all of them or none of them. If Max Mosley's budget cuts are imposed as planned, Ferrari, McLaren, BMW, Renault, Toyota, Red Bull and Toro Rosso say they will all pick up and leave, and take with them many of the sport's best drivers. Two-time World Champion Fernando Alonso and reigning World Champion Lewis Hamilton, along with Felipe Massa, Nick Heidfeld, Mark Webber and Jarno Trulli have all pledged to follow their teams out from under the FIA's purview. But where will they all go? To a new break-away series.
The teams have threatened to leave the FIA Formula One World Championship before, but this time, things are getting serious. According to the latest reports, FOTA has already begun negotiations with Dorna Sports in anticipation of Mosley's rejection of their counter-proposal. The chief executive of Dorna, the company that runs F1's two-wheeled counterpart MotoGP, has reportedly agreed to run the new series for the break-away F1 teams. A few years ago, Dorna managed to wrestle the rule-making authority away from the Federation Internationale de Motocyclisme – the FIA's motorcycling equivalent – and place it in the hands of the manufacturers. That's just what FOTA is looking for, and if Mosley sticks to his guns, it could be exactly what they'll get.
[Source: F1-Live | Image: Clive Mason/Getty]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
TORONTO 9:37AM (6/09/2009)
Yes...
Please! Start a new series... Get rid of the soap opera that is F1 !
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Jared 9:54AM (6/09/2009)
We've seen this story before -- IRL versus CART. They killed open-wheel racing in the US.
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Kumar 10:00AM (6/09/2009)
Indianapolis has a track ready and waiting.... ;)
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Redline 11:25AM (6/09/2009)
So does Montreal!
John Johnson 10:02AM (6/09/2009)
Well, F1 wouldn't die, but with all-new teams, I think the break-away series will be the popular one still. It has all the personalities we love.
Maybe the new series will get some freedom to actually engineer a fast race car. Wasn't that the point of F1? Let's see turbos and active aero. Budget be damned. If you want a cheap-o racing series, go join Max and Bernie.
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Alex 10:04AM (6/09/2009)
F1 could use the competition. Max and Bernie think they are untouchable.
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Carlos 10:16AM (6/09/2009)
Good riddance Max and Bernie are killing F1.
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hyundaifans.com 10:43AM (6/09/2009)
+1. I truly hope they succeed. Max and Bernie can go suck a big one!!
J-TRAY 10:46AM (6/09/2009)
Of course Bernie will sue all of them for breach of contract.
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AZZO45b 11:08AM (6/09/2009)
Bernie is being SUED by his wife for divorce... & she want a big chunk of his $$$. Plus the midget is OLD... might just DIE on us (do F1 a favor...)
Neil Schelly 11:16AM (6/09/2009)
I hope they don't split, but I'm all for a new Formula 0 series if Formula 1 is going to become so limited. Whatever type of racing you do (Rally, Solo, Stock Car, Open Wheel, whatever), there needs to be a series at the top where the big players can compete all out.
Personally, I think all the players that want to join the low-budget version of Formula 1 should seriously consider getting into the lower formula classes and making those series popular. People will watch if the series is worth watching, but taking F1 down to that level will ensure people only watch it as much as F2 or F3000 now. Join those, make it exciting, and get them on the air more - then F1 stays at the top and race fans get more race series to watch.
-N
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EEL 12:36PM (6/09/2009)
Maybe my dream of Sir Jackie Stewart being the head of an international motor sports series could come true if this comes to pass
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Racedriven 1:11PM (6/09/2009)
Oh great another CART vs. IRL and guess what, open wheel racing fans lose in the end considering that the IRL is just years away from shutting down.
So with that said, some times you have to take a chance and since Formula 1 is giant parade right now with Jenson Button upfront, what does some of these drivers have to lose, they want better racing, the fans want better racing, so create a new series, but will it really happen? NO if the FIA and Formula 1 know what's good for them, other wise they lose too.
Make the new series...with better cars, better racing, other wise its nothing.
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Shardm 1:15PM (6/09/2009)
Yes, F-Zero! Bring on the flying cars!
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Aki 1:40PM (6/09/2009)
Lol F-zero reminds me of the good 'ol SNES days.
Max needs to get the boot. Seriously I don't know why anyone within the FIA would support his stupid ideas. People don't watch F1 to see some homebrewed carmaker develop racecars out of his garage, they want to see Ferrari and the likes bringing the best that technology has to offer.
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Mark K. 9:06PM (6/09/2009)
Aki:
I think you missed something. It wasn't Ferrari that brought kick-ass turbos, it wasn't Ferrari that brought kick-EVERYBODY'S-ass active suspension.
Homebrewed carmakers are perfectly OK, as long as they humiliate the Big Dogs with innovation - which HAS to be allowed. Once they killed that, of course the only edge was buckets of money thrown at the wall in order to gain 0.2 seconds a lap.
Then they (bernie and max) bitch about it. Wow, somebody calls a psychiatrist ASAP, please.