F1 Ramblings

The showdown is yet to come and FIA president "Mad" Max Mosley may yet prevail. It will likely get ugly.

The FOTA teams submitted their entries as a block with conditions (though it's fragmenting with Williams, and now Force India breaking ranks and entering unconditionally for next year.) The FIA does not have to accept those entries, and thus could bar the FOTA teams from competing in F1 next year.

A number of new teams have announced their intention to enter F1 next year, and the recent Formula 2 arrive-and-drive series (for about 1/5 the cost of GP2) races were succesful. It looks like Mosley's plan may bear fruit.

However, the longer this soap opera drags on the longer all the teams, FOTA or not, are forced to compromise their preparations for next season because no one knows what's going to happen. The lack of stability is appauling.

Meanwhile, Sebastian Vettel took pole position for the Turkish Grand Prix after being fastest in all three qualifying sessions. Teammate Mark Webber was 4th so the car has definitely improved, and the Brawns were also very competitive in 2nd and 3rd. Ferrari is climbing back toward the front (6th and 7th), while McLaren lost the plot.

Lewis Hamilton failed to make it out of Q3 as the car was very nervous. While McLaren still have Pedro de la Rosa as test driver to help develop the car, they are now being outpaced on occasion by Force India to whom they supply engines.

Hamilton is extremely fast and usually makes blistering starts, but it's clear that he does not now possess the added dimension for developing a car in the way that Prost, Senna, Schumacher and Alonso could. When things don't go well he is no
more competitive than other drivers that have not received the kind of accolades or backing that Hamilton has enjoyed. He is now paying his dues after having the path to F1 paved with a red carpet, and the climb is that much steeper. I'm not convinced he's got the will to do it.

F1 2010 Rules & Budget Cap Resolved

The 10 current teams racing in Formula 1 are members of FOTA (Formula One Teams Association) and had been in dispute with the FIA over the rules for next season which involved a 40m Euro budget cap and a two tier rule structure which provided budget capped teams numerous advantages over the teams that did not accept the cap.

There was a huge row over the changes resulting in all FOTA teams refusing to enter unless changes were made. Williams GP was the first team to cave in and lodge its entry for next year ahead of today's deadline. FOTA promptly suspended (temporarily) the team's membership.

The remaining teams are expected to lodge their entries today as a result of negotiations which saw the two tier rule structure dropped and the budget cap raised and postponed. It is believed the 2010 budget cap will be 100m Euros per team, and that it will be reduced to 45m Euros in 2011.

New teams Prodrive (to be rebranded Aston-Martin in 2012), Lola, and US Grand Prix Engineering (USGPE) have also filed entries for the 2010 season. Thus we may have 26 car grids next season. Any more and pre-qualifying would be needed for each race.

How the budget cap will be enforced is still a mystery.

F1 Cost Cutting Measures

The F1 governing body (FIA) is worried about the rising costs of running an F1 team, especially during an economic environment like the one we have now. If another team goes under the grid will be down to 18 cars, which will be a shadow of the 26 cars the grids use to have in the early 1990's. Simply put the show will be in serious jeopardy if one or two teams fail.

So they're proposing all sorts of radical changes during the upcoming few seasons. If every proposal goes through, by the end of it the teams will be buying mostly spec parts and cars to race with.

While the FIA idea that the cost of running a team should be close to the amount of revenue it brings in from its share of the TV broadcast money makes sense, mandating and enforcing that is going to be very difficult.

They're basically proposing standard engines for 2013, as well as standard wheels, brakes, and suspensions in addition to the standard tires already used.

Pretty soon the cars could be a lot like the GP2 cars. The racing will be closer and the drivers more experienced so it should be exciting to watch, which is the most important thing. But then it wouldn't really be Formula 1 with teams building their own cars as now. Here's a link to the supposedly leaked letter:

http://www.formula1blog.com/?p=2393