Max Moseley says that FIA and FOTA have reached a truce and there will be no breakaway series in 2012. Apparently there is a new agreement between the FOTA teams and FIA that reaches to the 2012 season. I suspect that’s when FIA’s contract with Bernie Ecclestone’s group expires too, although I’m having a tough time digging up research on that one.
Moseley agreed not to run for FIA’s top office again, which opens the door for Ferrari’s Luca di Montezemolo to step into that spot.
Interestingly, under the current FIA contract with Bernie’s group, the teams only receive 1% of the TV revenues, whereas Bernie’s group keeps 49% and passes 50% to FIA. Sounds to me like that’s going to have to change going forward.
Once upon a time, open wheel racing in America was ruled with an iron fist by the United States Auto Club. You might recognize this organization as the sanctioning body of one Indianpolis 500 and a bunch of smaller series (dirt, sprint, and midgets). Then the titans of open wheel racing — Penske, Gurney, Pat Patrick — decided that they weren’t getting their proper slice of the pie and thus emerged CART. The Last Turn Clubhouse has an interesting article comparing the situation in the US back in ‘78 with the situation in F1 today and warns of the inevitable consequences. Enjoy.
Maybe it’s because of asinine comments like these. Regardless of the validity of the points he makes, this kind of stuff is just petrol on the fire:
“I would hate to see any kind of takeover happen because it would be badly managed They can’t even run their own teams. They can’t agree on anything. If the teams owned it they would destroy it,” Ecclestone added.
He also scoffed at the leaked FOTA calendar, wondering how the body can compete with the structure operated by his businesses.
“We organise the venues which don’t cost the teams a penny,” said Ecclestone. “I reckon Ferrari and McLaren need us more than we need them.”
“All they have to do is pitch up at a track with their sponsors’ names all over their cars in exchange for millions of quid and race in front of a worldwide television audience - which I have set up and keep going.
“The bottom line is they can’t afford to set up a rival championship,” he added.
Is that an extended middle finger for Ecclestone that I see originating in Maranello?
Proving that European open-wheel racing teams are no less dumbsh|ts than their American counterparts but that the Euros can lag behind the concept by a good ten years, F1 teams Brawn GP, Ferrari, McLaren, Renault, Toyota, BMW Sauber, Red Bull Racing and Toro Rosso have announced that they are breaking with FIA and Formula One starting with next season:
In the dead of Thursday night in England, the eight Formula One Teams’ Association members issued a statement announcing that a breakaway world championship will be formed.
The announcement came on the eve of the FIA’s Friday deadline for making unconditional entries for the official Formula One series, and amid the sides’ deadlocked negotiations about income, governance and rules.
Reportedly, WilliamsF1 and Team Force India have different contracts with FIA/Ecclestone and can’t skip town too but would do so if they thought they could get out of their contracts.I can only imagine how much McLaren has been wanting to do this ever since FIA and Ecclestone slammed them with that 100 million Euro fine last year — oddly, the exact same number that Ecclestone owed to McLaren for their share of the TV money paid to Ecclestone by broadcasters for the right to show the F1 no-passing circus.
I wonder if this will really happen or if Moseley and Ecclestone will pull it together. What a titanic clusterfvck erupts when egos clash. Cue the lawyers!
An excellent Frontline piece on how it all went down. Its easy to criticize Paulson’s actions after the fact. Frontline does a nice job of explaining what he’s up against as events unfold, what a precarious confidence game our financial system is at heart. On the other hand, at least I was surprised how vigorously the government made its plays. There was a lot of “You are going to do this.” The words “or else” were never used, becasue they didn’t need to be said. It turns your stomach. At the same time, you can’t help but feel some sympathy for Paulson (and by extension the current administartion). No one wants to be the guy on the beat when this whole thing implodes.
Bung, this is too depressing/scary/grown-up for you to watch.
