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British GP is become pawn in FIA/FOTA war

22 June 2009 - 13:53

One of the many news stories going around at last weekend's British GP at Silverstone was that Bernie and Max had agreed that there would "definitely" be a British GP in 2010. Bernie has previously been adamant that if Donnington Park (which had last year won the rights to host the event from 2010 onwards) wasn't ready in time for 2010 then there wouldn't be a British GP - "we're not going back to Silverstone" he said, more than once.

So what changed? I think it's obvious it has something to do with the other big story of the weekend: the announcement that FOTA would go ahead with plans to establish a breakaway series for its 8 teams to compete in in 2010. Bernie has threatened to sue, the FIA are already (according to Max) going ahead with legal action. But that's not all they'll do - why not try and do deals to prevent the FOTA series from getting the venues they want?

Bernie couldn't speak lowly enough of the British Racing Driver's Club (BRDC), owners of Silverstone, previously. Now he will offer them a contract, with a time limit to accept of course. Accept the contact and they will have saved the British GP for 2010 - if Donnington isn't ready they will put the race on as they did this year - if Donnington are ready the BRDC collects a nice retainer for doing nothing. But they will have done something: The contract will also contain an exclusivity clause. They will not be allowed to host any "competing" event.

The dubious decision to move the British GP to Donnington has been seen by those watching the activities of FOTA as the perfect opportunity to get at least one classic race on their schedule and that fact will not have escaped Bernie's attention. He is currently facing the chance of his life's work evaporating due to the bloody-mindedness of the FIA president. If the FOTA series does go ahead, the value of Formula 1 will be seriously diminished, having only one team with significant history. The least he will want to do is diminish the value of his competitors as well.

My hope is that the BRDC is wise enough to not fall for Bernie's offer. He has promised a British GP in 2010 and if the BRDC refuse to sign an exclusive agreement with Bernie now, they will still, I believe, get the opportunity to host the British GP, should Donnington not be ready, at a later date.  Meanwhile, if the FOTA split does go ahead, wouldn't they rather host the FOTA event instead?

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Eight FOTA teams to form breakaway series

18 June 2009 - 18:45

Wow, I really thought all the talk and bluster and the conditional entries for the 2010 F1 season were all part of a big bargaining exercise in getting the FIA to agree to their terms. I never thought FOTA would actually go ahead with their touted plans for a breakaway series.

Tonight they announced, after a 4 hour meeting at the Renault HQ, that they are indeed going to do just that. I have to say, this could get interesting. There are so many different issues here, there's no way I can cover them all in one blog post. Here are just a few:-

Can the manufacturer's actually set up a rival series for 2010?  I think they can - there's enough race circuits that they can put togther a 10 or 12 race series that will still attract sponsors. Most territories have multiple TV channels and with Bernie's huge slice of the revenue no longer part of the equation, they can charge a lot less for the TV rights and will have no problem finding takers. Bernie has threatened that he will sue anyone who breaks their contracts regarding working with rival series, but I believe the motorsports world is big enough that the FOTA series can be done without, at least legally, standing on FOM's toes. And the FIA will have to sanction the series because as part of a settlement with the European Union, they agreed that they would sanction any series that met it's safety standards.

What will happen with the three FOTA teams that the FIA say have already ageed to race in F1 in 2010?  When the FIA released the 2010 entry last week, they included the names of Ferrari, Red Bull and Toro Rosso unconditionally, claiming that those teams are already committed to F1 due to contracts they signed with the FIA and FOM in 2005. You will remember that the last time the manufacturers were talking about a rival series, Ferrari were the first the jump ship and signed with F1 in return for getting more money that all the other teams and a technical veto clause. That effectively ended the breakaway threat last time and it would be ironic if the contract they signed then also prevented them from participating in this new breakaway. If the FOTA series really does ahead, expect this contract (and one signed by Red Bull and Toro Rosso that is more in line with the one Williams says commits them to F1), to be the subject to much court action. It could wind up with those teams sending two unliveried, uncompetitive cars and a skeleton crew to the F1 races just to meet their contractural committments while the real team races in the FOTA series.

Will the split REALLY happen? Although this news seems final, I won't believe it until the FIA publish a few entry list for 2010 that doesn't have Ferrari, McLaren, Renault, BMW, Toyota, Brawn, Red Bull and Toro Rosso on it. Or at least 5 of those names.  And more importantly it has the names of 5 more new enterants on it such that there was no way the FOTA teams could be allowed back into F1 at a later date. FOTA may still be playing hardball here, trying to force the FIA's hand. They can afford to spend $10-20M going through the motions, looking like they are deadly serious about setting up their rival series, and still pull the plug on it in a couple of months time when the FIA gives them the concessions they need. The only thing that will stop that happenning is, like I said, if the FIA fill all the spaces with other teams before then.

/ No comments / §

British GP is become pawn in FIA/FOTA war

22 June 2009 - 13:53

One of the many news stories going around at last weekend's British GP at Silverstone was that Bernie and Max had agreed that there would "definitely" be a British GP in 2010. Bernie has previously been adamant that if Donnington Park (which had last year won the rights to host the event from 2010 onwards) wasn't ready in time for 2010 then there wouldn't be a British GP - "we're not going back to Silverstone" he said, more than once.

So what changed? I think it's obvious it has something to do with the other big story of the weekend: the announcement that FOTA would go ahead with plans to establish a breakaway series for its 8 teams to compete in in 2010. Bernie has threatened to sue, the FIA are already (according to Max) going ahead with legal action. But that's not all they'll do - why not try and do deals to prevent the FOTA series from getting the venues they want?

Bernie couldn't speak lowly enough of the British Racing Driver's Club (BRDC), owners of Silverstone, previously. Now he will offer them a contract, with a time limit to accept of course. Accept the contact and they will have saved the British GP for 2010 - if Donnington isn't ready they will put the race on as they did this year - if Donnington are ready the BRDC collects a nice retainer for doing nothing. But they will have done something: The contract will also contain an exclusivity clause. They will not be allowed to host any "competing" event.

The dubious decision to move the British GP to Donnington has been seen by those watching the activities of FOTA as the perfect opportunity to get at least one classic race on their schedule and that fact will not have escaped Bernie's attention. He is currently facing the chance of his life's work evaporating due to the bloody-mindedness of the FIA president. If the FOTA series does go ahead, the value of Formula 1 will be seriously diminished, having only one team with significant history. The least he will want to do is diminish the value of his competitors as well.

My hope is that the BRDC is wise enough to not fall for Bernie's offer. He has promised a British GP in 2010 and if the BRDC refuse to sign an exclusive agreement with Bernie now, they will still, I believe, get the opportunity to host the British GP, should Donnington not be ready, at a later date.  Meanwhile, if the FOTA split does go ahead, wouldn't they rather host the FOTA event instead?

/ No comments / §

Eight FOTA teams to form breakaway series

18 June 2009 - 18:45

Wow, I really thought all the talk and bluster and the conditional entries for the 2010 F1 season were all part of a big bargaining exercise in getting the FIA to agree to their terms. I never thought FOTA would actually go ahead with their touted plans for a breakaway series.

Tonight they announced, after a 4 hour meeting at the Renault HQ, that they are indeed going to do just that. I have to say, this could get interesting. There are so many different issues here, there's no way I can cover them all in one blog post. Here are just a few:-

Can the manufacturer's actually set up a rival series for 2010?  I think they can - there's enough race circuits that they can put togther a 10 or 12 race series that will still attract sponsors. Most territories have multiple TV channels and with Bernie's huge slice of the revenue no longer part of the equation, they can charge a lot less for the TV rights and will have no problem finding takers. Bernie has threatened that he will sue anyone who breaks their contracts regarding working with rival series, but I believe the motorsports world is big enough that the FOTA series can be done without, at least legally, standing on FOM's toes. And the FIA will have to sanction the series because as part of a settlement with the European Union, they agreed that they would sanction any series that met it's safety standards.

What will happen with the three FOTA teams that the FIA say have already ageed to race in F1 in 2010?  When the FIA released the 2010 entry last week, they included the names of Ferrari, Red Bull and Toro Rosso unconditionally, claiming that those teams are already committed to F1 due to contracts they signed with the FIA and FOM in 2005. You will remember that the last time the manufacturers were talking about a rival series, Ferrari were the first the jump ship and signed with F1 in return for getting more money that all the other teams and a technical veto clause. That effectively ended the breakaway threat last time and it would be ironic if the contract they signed then also prevented them from participating in this new breakaway. If the FOTA series really does ahead, expect this contract (and one signed by Red Bull and Toro Rosso that is more in line with the one Williams says commits them to F1), to be the subject to much court action. It could wind up with those teams sending two unliveried, uncompetitive cars and a skeleton crew to the F1 races just to meet their contractural committments while the real team races in the FOTA series.

Will the split REALLY happen? Although this news seems final, I won't believe it until the FIA publish a few entry list for 2010 that doesn't have Ferrari, McLaren, Renault, BMW, Toyota, Brawn, Red Bull and Toro Rosso on it. Or at least 5 of those names.  And more importantly it has the names of 5 more new enterants on it such that there was no way the FOTA teams could be allowed back into F1 at a later date. FOTA may still be playing hardball here, trying to force the FIA's hand. They can afford to spend $10-20M going through the motions, looking like they are deadly serious about setting up their rival series, and still pull the plug on it in a couple of months time when the FIA gives them the concessions they need. The only thing that will stop that happenning is, like I said, if the FIA fill all the spaces with other teams before then.

/ No comments / §

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