Imminent F1 shakeup?

[CHT]

Taken from our discussion on RBR Team thread,

this is a very complex and expensive power unit we are talking about, FIA should have let the manufacturer continue to develop the engine throughout this season before the freeze it.

Coincidentally, Ferrari has joined in to express their unhappiness about this year regulations. I am not sure if behind the scene RBR and Ferrari are planning something

Why do you say Ferrari and Red Bull are up to something?

* Ferrari and RBR are the 2 most influential team on F1 right now due to their big budgets and relationship with Bernie
* Ferrari and RBR, are both works team for 2 out of 3 engine manufacturer in F1. ie. Ferrari and Renault
* Both team are unhappy with where F1 is moving in terms of PU and the show.
* Having move from V8 to V6 to generate a green image for F1, it will be a PR disaster for FIA to revert back to a less green PU to improve the show.
* Bernie is due to retire very soon and this should open up an opportunity for someone or some company to take over the controlling of F1 future.

So considering all these factors and having RBR putting Newey on "other projects" and Ferrari flirting with Le Mans and continue noise about the excitement about the show, perhaps Ferrari and RBR are planning a breakaway series to threaten or influence F1 futures.

[Lycoming]

If Bernie is due to retire, wouldn't it make more sense to attempt install somebody in line with their interests rather than form a breakaway series?

[FW17]

Ferrari would be set for a major embarrassment if the try LMP1 against the VW group, could be the GT40 story all over again

I hope there is a major shake up and a quick one as it happened in 1994 (for other reasons).
Wishing for the following
1) a total of 16 teams, bottom 6 need not enter all races in season,
2) 107% of qualifying and top 26 cars race, qualifying format changed to 2 sessions of 50 min 10 min
3) top 8 need to build there own cars completely as it is today,
4) bottom 8 can buy previous years cars from other team but cannot use the same engine
5) engine freeze lifted
6) 100 kg /race limit lifted
7) 3 independent engine manufacturers like ilmor, judd, cosworth, ricardo etc supply in engines that are 2% slower than works engines, performance achieved through higher fuel flow, FIA develop standard electrical kits for these three manufactures
balance of performance if lead team is more than 0.75% faster than other teams
9) Cheaper downforce and limit on max downforce

[Jersey Tom]

Imminent? No. To go through all the development of this completely new PU and then just completely scrap it in its first year would be wildly wasteful - even for those who are struggling or struggled early on. So that part of the regulations won't be shaken up I don't think.

As for teams breaking away... I highly doubt it. Who would go join this breakaway series? I don't think you'd be able to have much of a field.

[CHT]

Imminent? No. To go through all the development of this completely new PU and then just completely scrap it in its first year would be wildly wasteful - even for those who are struggling or struggled early on. So that part of the regulations won't be shaken up I don't think.

As for teams breaking away... I highly doubt it. Who would go join this breakaway series? I don't think you'd be able to have much of a field.

For FIA, its very unlikely that they will agree to make a U-turn unless there is a credible threat from team like Ferrari and RBR to quit F1 and to start a new racing series which will rival F1. And this is exactly the reason why I think Ferrari and RBR could planning something behind to scene to put themselves in better position for negotiation.

As far as cost is concern, it could be a chicken and egg situation here. On one hand you could argue that scraping the V6 will be wasteful, but on the other hand, if they do nothing, F1 TV and ticket revenue starts to decline, it could possibility cost more for F1 future and the prize money.

[CHT]

If Bernie is due to retire, wouldn't it make more sense to attempt install somebody in line with their interests rather than form a breakaway series?

It really depends on what is inline. For bernie, I think he would still prefer the V8 or V10, while FIA are moving in the opposite direction. Since Bernie is not getting any younger, I believe this could possibly open up the possibility of some company or team acquiring Bernie's stake in F1.

[Cam]

Imminent? No. To go through all the development of this completely new PU and then just completely scrap it in its first year would be wildly wasteful - even for those who are struggling or struggled early on. So that part of the regulations won't be shaken up I don't think.

As for teams breaking away... I highly doubt it. Who would go join this breakaway series? I don't think you'd be able to have much of a field.

It would be a waste yes but they could translate some of it to LMP1 so maybe not a complete write off? I wonder if they could pump out the old na v8 or v10s easily? What would be involved in doing that, feasible? Would the manufactures still have all the tooling sitting around?

[autogyro]

Lmp1 retains its image of super car racing but not I fear for long.
F1 has an image directly reliant on the latest road vehicle technology and has no road comparable vehicles to promote off.
Internal combustion technology for power is now history and F1 remains in opposition to this inevitability.
Historical formula will begin to gain more interest as the top end of motor sport changes further to hybrid and full electric.
It would be my pleasure to help Ferrari develop a world wide series for historic types as they slowly replace the gas guzzlers in their range with hybrids and electrics.
Tesla technology is available to them without patent problems as it should be.
Ferrari should join the new age and stop posing.
Mercedes and Renault can move in any suitable direction.
When Bernie goes F1 IMO will decline.

[Cam]

I kind of agree that F1 is Bernie. Without him....

Interesting insight from LDM:

In the letter, di Montezemolo suggests Ecclestone brings together F1's main stakeholders - including teams, media, television companies, and race promoters - for an open workshop to establish what is wrong and how it should be fixed.

He also believes that companies that are not directly involved in F1 - such as social media platforms and companies like Google and Apple - should be invited too.

Google and Apple? He must be talking about media access, streaming etc?

Edit: today I was able to view a live, free stream of the Le Mans on my iphone. I aiplayed that to my big screen TV. Although it wasn't HD, the fact I could do that, on demand, with 2 clicks, was impressive. Kudos WEC.

[Juzh]

This thread may be onto something:
http://www.f1times.co.uk/news/display/08990

[wunderkind]

Montezemolo should shut up and get on with his job or leave!

He never cared about the well being of the sport, the fans, and the sponsors when Ferrari was winning.

[Cam]

At the risk of being down voted into oblivion again for trying to share original content - here we go.

A shakeup could be good - but shake what and how how much?

F1 could take a leaf out of cricket’s book. They are quite similar in many regards. Cricket as a sport has been around for much longer than F1 has, is built on a rich history that the sport draws on and has a global following (that they want to grow) - performing in many countries of many cultures. The sport is reliant on crowds, sponsors and tv deals for funding.

Cricket, at it’s essence, has a couple of really basic things that the crowds want to see:
• their team winning
• batters smashing sixes
• bowlers taking wickets
• great catches (individual performances)

So when cricket started to loose audience numbers, they didn’t fundamentally change the sport - they took what they knew the audience loved and presented that in new formats, i.e. ODI and 20/20.

20/20 cricket has boomed. It has taken a very traditional 5 day sport down to 3 hours and focussed solely on the core strengths of what they can offer, i.e. big hitting sixes and fast wickets. Not many other rules really have changed - because it didn’t need to. The sport needed to reflect the audience's changing tastes, available time and access to media. As such they have made a marathon into a 100m sprint high octane sprint. The package is completed by presenting with rock star themes and venues (fireworks, pom pom girls, audience dress up, loud music etc) - and guess what? The crowd loves it. Kids and adults alike. So do sponsors. More and more countries are joining up and the sport is growing well.

While fears remain that traditional Test Cricket continues to lack growth - the sport as a whole has grown dramatically, attracting new younger audiences.

While the management of F1 in-fight, the sport suffers with misdirection and clouded/conflicting priorities. Whether people like this new formula or not, one thing is clear - it’s not working anywhere near as well as it could.

Just a thought.

Twenty20 Vision - Sports Marketing (excerpt)
Can Big Bash deliver cricket’s big boom?

[CHT]

At the risk of being down voted into oblivion again for trying to share original content - here we go.

A shakeup could be good - but shake what and how how much?

F1 could take a leaf out of cricket’s book. They are quite similar in many regards. Cricket as a sport has been around for much longer than F1 has, is built on a rich history that the sport draws on and has a global following (that they want to grow) - performing in many countries of many cultures. The sport is reliant on crowds, sponsors and tv deals for funding.

Cricket, at it’s essence, has a couple of really basic things that the crowds want to see:
• their team winning
• batters smashing sixes
• bowlers taking wickets
• great catches (individual performances)

So when cricket started to loose audience numbers, they didn’t fundamentally change the sport - they took what they knew the audience loved and presented that in new formats, i.e. ODI and 20/20.

20/20 cricket has boomed. It has taken a very traditional 5 day sport down to 3 hours and focussed solely on the core strengths of what they can offer, i.e. big hitting sixes and fast wickets. Not many other rules really have changed - because it didn’t need to. The sport needed to reflect the audience's changing tastes, available time and access to media. As such they have made a marathon into a 100m sprint high octane sprint. The package is completed by presenting with rock star themes and venues (fireworks, pom pom girls, audience dress up, loud music etc) - and guess what? The crowd loves it. Kids and adults alike. So do sponsors. More and more countries are joining up and the sport is growing well.

While fears remain that traditional Test Cricket continues to lack growth - the sport as a whole has grown dramatically, attracting new younger audiences.

While the management of F1 in-fight, the sport suffers with misdirection and clouded/conflicting priorities. Whether people like this new formula or not, one thing is clear - it’s not working anywhere near as well as it could.

Just a thought.

Twenty20 Vision - Sports Marketing (excerpt)
Can Big Bash deliver cricket’s big boom?

In the case of F1, the sports didnt lose audience by doing nothing, its a case of losing audience by doing too much and forgetting what the fans love most.

[Cam]

Doing too much, not enough, doing the wrong thing..... they all contribute I think. Ultimately, there doesn't seem to be a coherent agreed pathway. And when there is, someone bucks up and then it changes. Why? Perhaps "too many cooks spoil the broth".

"I think the promoter and the regulator need to get together and say 'This is what formula one is going to be', and then the teams have the choice of whether they enter the championship or not," [Christian Horner] said.

This is probably a good place to start. Maybe the shakeup is to remove all the teams from a say in the matter? The FIA can then front up a set of stable long term regs, with a charter of how the money is dispersed and teams either agree and participate or don't and they go race elsewhere. At least then, ultimate responsibility lies in one set of hands and it sinks or swims on that. There's no more 'he said, she said' - there is only the FIA. Whether it's the FIA or something else, is for debate.

There has to be one thing that sits at the top - one thing that every reg tries to emulate, tries to achieve, promotes etc. What is that? What's the single proposition? Like cricket, F1's core already exists:

Formula 1® racing is the ultimate test of man and machine - pushing car and driver to their absolute limits in pursuit of one simple goal. Speed.

[CHT]

Doing too much, not enough, doing the wrong thing..... they all contribute I think. Ultimately, there doesn't seem to be a coherent agreed pathway. And when there is, someone bucks up and then it changes. Why? Perhaps "too many cooks spoil the broth".

"I think the promoter and the regulator need to get together and say 'This is what formula one is going to be', and then the teams have the choice of whether they enter the championship or not," [Christian Horner] said.

This is probably a good place to start. Maybe the shakeup is to remove all the teams from a say in the matter? The FIA can then front up a set of stable long term regs, with a charter of how the money is dispersed and teams either agree and participate or don't and they go race elsewhere. At least then, ultimate responsibility lies in one set of hands and it sinks or swims on that. There's no more 'he said, she said' - there is only the FIA. Whether it's the FIA or something else, is for debate.

There has to be one thing that sits at the top - one thing that every reg tries to emulate, tries to achieve, promotes etc. What is that? What's the single proposition? Like cricket, F1's core already exists:

Formula 1® racing is the ultimate test of man and machine - pushing car and driver to their absolute limits in pursuit of one simple goal. Speed.

Its possible that JT and FIA could be looking for a good enough reason or excuse to make a U-turn on the regulation. Something which will not discredit him or FIA. And Ferrari and RBR, with the blessing of BE, could be the people they are engaging to kick start the process.