I think it's bluff to buy leverage. There's going to be crazy litigation over this too. I'm dying to know who the equivalents to bernie and max will be for the break away series. I'm dying to know if they will have races all over the world, including U.S.A. This could really screw things up, though. A grid of 16 is not bad for starters. I bet other companies will join the break away. How can F1 be legitimate without McLaren, Ferrari, Renault, BMW, and now Brawn? You'll have the "under 40m series" and the "over 40m series" and gee guess which one people will watch more? All this does is create a series that will compete with GP2. I think Max and Bernie are up against a wall on this one because their grid prospects are boring.

 

How do you know that?

 

HRH said at Monaco '09 that they would go where Ferrari goes.

I'm giddy as a school girl if this goes ahead. There are plenty of other Bernies out there with the connections necessary to get er done from a TV/ commercial point of view. David Richards anyone?

 

TV will go where Ferrari, BMW, McLaren, Red Bull, Toyota, etc. go. The break away guys will do it on a shoestring the first year if they have to, just to eat into F1's market. The race commentary this weekend is going to be SOOOOO good! The Speed Channel guys are still under contract with F1 championship vis a vis Speed, so they will probably be very diplomatic in sharing their thoughts.

 

I want them to go back to wide open formulae like in the '70s - fan cars, 6 wheels, turbo 4s, big v-12s, etc. Until then, I'm more worried like Big E said because of what the CART/IRL split did to American open-wheel racing.

Again, I'll reiterate my call to Speed to show DTM, BTCC, WTCC, FIA GT, and WRC events. If I see Bob Varsha in Monterey again, I'll tell him what's up.

 

The thing is, Bernie isn't really to blame here. This massive blunder falls almost entirely on Max Mosley's shoulders. He was the one who pushed the budget and wouldn't budge at all. Plus, Bernie really doesn't have as much power as everyone thinks. He decides which teams race and at which tracks, but F1 is really at the mercy of the FIA, and that's where Max comes in. If it was up to Bernie, he'd still have his darling Ferrari on the grid and I'm sure he's smart enough to know that F1 will be a waste without the premier teams we all know and love. It's a shame that Max couldn't be on the same page as Bernie in this instance.

 

I like your line of thinking here Chris;

Bring back Can Am style racing with only a few rules.

2 litre turbo or 5 litre non turbo
4 wheels
Same engine/tranny and tires for entire race. You blow it, you're out. You break it, you're out. Tires are worn out, you're out.

The possibilities are limitless, but will be kept in check by the one engine/tranny/set of tires rule.

Just a thought. What do you guys think?

 

He was.
Now he's just a 500 year old fossil unable to cash out and retire because he is clinically insane. And eats babies.

 

I love it!

 

Do. Want.

F1 has been amazingly boring for many years. I grew tired of watching slot car racing a good long while ago. A new series has potential if organized and handled well. If they do run more races in the US, it won't be terribly hard to find an audience here given the marques involved.