F1 pit stop: FOTA vs. Max Mosley
Though I am not a ardent fan of F1, yet I try to soak in whatever news I can about this mother of all racing competitions, called Formula One. This year’s championship which is already in the midway is making more news for its off the track activities than for the on track activities. The pulling out of Honda and Honda bases Super Agura provided the first big dent to this year’s championship. And now the FOTA all teamed up against the FIA big boss- Max Mosley to make sure he doesn’t get away this time is sure to put brakes on this smooth going Championship for the last six decades.
What's the fuss all about?
Max Mosley-who is the President of the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile(FIA) has been holding his position since 1991 and during his tenure has brought many radical changes in the rules of the F1 Championship, not willingly accepted by the teams and has been a sore eye for the teams concerned. This time, he crossed the line by declaring a budget cap of 40 million Euros for every participating team and this decision of his has become the center of storm that is beginning to tear apart the championship.
The reason cited by Mosley for this budget cap:
“It is very difficult for a major manufacturer to continue in F1 when they are economizing in their factories by shutting off every other lift, turning down the electricity, not cleaning the windows, not serving coffee at the meetings.
"A company that is in that sort of situation is unlikely to go on pouring massive money into F1. So there is a danger, and that's what started the whole thing with the new teams.”
The real motive:
1) He probably wants to give the new entrants equal piece of the championship pie by easing out their competition level with the likes of Ferrari and BMW because a budget cap would ensure that the big guns do not splurge huge amount of money on technology which would make the beginners too difficult to catch up to.
2) He also seems to encourage more and more new entrants so as to minimize the monopoly of the big ones who have become a pain in the ass for the FIA boss to execute his plans freely.
FOTA and its concerns.
Formula One Team Association (FOTA) is formed by the nine big teams in the FIA such as Ferrari, BMW, Mclaren, and Toyota etc who have always had issues with FIA and Mosley in particular because:
1) of refusal to grant them a bigger slice of Formula One's gross income
2) the insistence on charging such high fees to circuit promoters that ticket prices are unnecessarily inflated,
3) and the failure to establish rounds of the championship in North America, an important market for the major manufacturers.
And if these above concerns were not enough, the latest salvo of budget cap seems to be the final nail in Mosley’s F1 Championship coffin because not only FOTA is hell bent on the removal of the budget cap, they now want Mosley out of the F1 circuit too, so that they can initiate talks with Bernie Ecclestone, who controls the commercial strings of F1 Championship. The FOTA seems to have made up their mind to hold a new championship henceforth consisting of the original nine teams and the new entrants if any.
Mosley’s reaction and the predicament of F1 fans:
Mosley, it seems wants to have his own way. He seems to be least bothered about the FOTA’s decision of hosting a new rival championship from next year. He even went on to comment on the lunacy of one of the team’s manager’s decision, which has further added fuel to fire.
The F1 fans no doubt will be having a tough time deciding on their loyality. Drivers and circuits would be caught in the middle. One series might have Spa and Silverstone, Hamilton and Raikkonen. The other Monza and Suzuka, Alonso and Kubica. So some would watch F1, some would watch the new championship and the rest would stop watching either. And the same goes for the sponsors which every year pump billions into F1’s coffers.
This is not conjecture. Exactly the same thing happened with the Indy Car championship. It finally re-united last year after 14 years divided - now a pale shadow of its former glory in every respect.
Though I am not a ardent fan of F1, yet I try to soak in whatever news I can about this mother of all racing competitions, called Formula One. This year’s championship which is already in the midway is making more news for its off the track activities than for the on track activities. The pulling out of Honda and Honda bases Super Agura provided the first big dent to this year’s championship. And now the FOTA all teamed up against the FIA big boss- Max Mosley to make sure he doesn’t get away this time is sure to put brakes on this smooth going Championship for the last six decades.
What's the fuss all about?
Max Mosley-who is the President of the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile(FIA) has been holding his position since 1991 and during his tenure has brought many radical changes in the rules of the F1 Championship, not willingly accepted by the teams and has been a sore eye for the teams concerned. This time, he crossed the line by declaring a budget cap of 40 million Euros for every participating team and this decision of his has become the center of storm that is beginning to tear apart the championship.
The reason cited by Mosley for this budget cap:
“It is very difficult for a major manufacturer to continue in F1 when they are economizing in their factories by shutting off every other lift, turning down the electricity, not cleaning the windows, not serving coffee at the meetings.
"A company that is in that sort of situation is unlikely to go on pouring massive money into F1. So there is a danger, and that's what started the whole thing with the new teams.”
The real motive:
1) He probably wants to give the new entrants equal piece of the championship pie by easing out their competition level with the likes of Ferrari and BMW because a budget cap would ensure that the big guns do not splurge huge amount of money on technology which would make the beginners too difficult to catch up to.
2) He also seems to encourage more and more new entrants so as to minimize the monopoly of the big ones who have become a pain in the ass for the FIA boss to execute his plans freely.
FOTA and its concerns.
Formula One Team Association (FOTA) is formed by the nine big teams in the FIA such as Ferrari, BMW, Mclaren, and Toyota etc who have always had issues with FIA and Mosley in particular because:
1) of refusal to grant them a bigger slice of Formula One's gross income
2) the insistence on charging such high fees to circuit promoters that ticket prices are unnecessarily inflated,
3) and the failure to establish rounds of the championship in North America, an important market for the major manufacturers.
And if these above concerns were not enough, the latest salvo of budget cap seems to be the final nail in Mosley’s F1 Championship coffin because not only FOTA is hell bent on the removal of the budget cap, they now want Mosley out of the F1 circuit too, so that they can initiate talks with Bernie Ecclestone, who controls the commercial strings of F1 Championship. The FOTA seems to have made up their mind to hold a new championship henceforth consisting of the original nine teams and the new entrants if any.
Mosley’s reaction and the predicament of F1 fans:
Mosley, it seems wants to have his own way. He seems to be least bothered about the FOTA’s decision of hosting a new rival championship from next year. He even went on to comment on the lunacy of one of the team’s manager’s decision, which has further added fuel to fire.
The F1 fans no doubt will be having a tough time deciding on their loyality. Drivers and circuits would be caught in the middle. One series might have Spa and Silverstone, Hamilton and Raikkonen. The other Monza and Suzuka, Alonso and Kubica. So some would watch F1, some would watch the new championship and the rest would stop watching either. And the same goes for the sponsors which every year pump billions into F1’s coffers.
This is not conjecture. Exactly the same thing happened with the Indy Car championship. It finally re-united last year after 14 years divided - now a pale shadow of its former glory in every respect.
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