Thread: ** F1 - FOTA announces breakaway series **

Check this out... The downfall of F1 begins... Didn't they learn anything from the CART/IRL split

FOTA announces breakaway series

It appears as if the crisis in Formula One is only set to get bigger with FOTA announcing here in Silverstone tonight that they have chosen to launch their own breakaway series next season, a move that will split the pinnacle of Motorsports in two.
This move has been on the cards for some months now with the situation getting to the point of no return earlier this week when the FIA accused ‘certain members of FOTA’ of having their own agenda.

The eight remaining teams in FOTA have been huddled together in Renault’s Enstone headquarters tonight and they all agreed that they had no alternative than to go down this path.

"The teams cannot continue to compromise on the fundamental values of the sport and have declined to alter their original conditional entries to the 2010 World Championship. These teams therefore have no alternative other than to commence the preparation for a new Championship which reflects the values of its participants and partners,” Autosport quoted them as saying in a statement.

“This series will have transparent governance, one set of regulations, encourage more entrants and listen to the wishes of the fans, including offering lower prices for spectators worldwide, partners and other important stakeholders. The major drivers, stars, brands, sponsors, promoters and companies historically associated with the highest level of motorsport will all feature in this new series."

Big news! Lets see how it plays out.


The main difference I see compared to the CART/IRL split is this: In the CART/IRL split, the engine manufacturers were in disagreement and aligned themselves with different series. Then after several years of floundering in IRL, Chevrolet and Nissan (Infinity) withdrew, leaving only Honda and Toyota in IRL and Cosworth in Champcar. When Toyota got deaper into NASCAR, they left IRL, leaving Honda as the sole manufacturer. In other words, a steady decline of manufacturer involvement. In the case of F1, you have all the manufacturers in agreement and committed to racing telling the FIA that they don't like the rules. If the manufacturers form their own series - it can work. The FIA and F1 with Cosworth as the sole engine supplyer will be very weak.

Curious as to where the fan base will go or stay.

Originally Posted by forhamilton

Curious as to where the fan base will go or stay.

Fan base will go where Ferrari, Brawn, BMW, McLaren, Renault and Toyota race. F1 would be screwed. I still think this is still posturing but I hope they do start their own series.

When you look at the FOTA - FIA division from a resources perspective - both monitary and technollogically, its pretty amusing:

Renault = Factory team and engine supplier to Red Bull Renault.

Ferrari = Factory team and engine supplier to Toro Rosso Ferrari.

Toyota = Factory team and egine supplier to Williams GP.

Mercedes Mc Laren = Factory team and engine supplier to Brawn GP and Force India Mercedes.

BMW Sauber = Factory team and has in the past indicated it would supply another team.

If these teams genuinely break ties with the FIA and form their own series, as of now, the FIA will be left with William GP and Force India GP with no engine supply.

Now, think about the driver contracts: Raikkonen, Massa, Hamilton, Kovalainen, Barachello, Button, Vettel, Webber, Bourdais, Buemi, Trulli, Glock, Hiedfeld, Kubica, Alonso, Piquet are all contracted to FOTA teams. (Granted, they could stand to loose a few of those guys)

The FIA teams have: Rossberg, Nakajima, Sutil and Fisichella. The only Gem in that lot is Rossberg.


Things are going to get really interesting from now until 2010.

If they do form their own series, which I highly doubt, which tracks would they race on?

Originally Posted by FmG

If they do form their own series, which I highly doubt, which tracks would they race on?

Same one's they currently race on, just boot out the new supertracks that only sell 20k tickets and bring back some historic tracks. Keep Silverstone in the lineup, and for f*cks sake, bring back to Montreal!

The FIA has released an official statement regarding the actions of FOTA to form a breakaway series at the end of this year.



The FIA’s lawyers have now examined the FOTA threat to begin a breakaway series. The actions of FOTA as a whole, and Ferrari in particular, amount to serious violations of law including wilful interference with contractual relations, direct breaches of Ferrari's legal obligations and a grave violation of competition law. The FIA will be issuing legal proceedings without delay.


Preparations for the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship continue but publication of the final 2010 entry list will be put on hold while the FIA asserts its legal rights.

^^^

Ferrari responded with a short statement stating that it was not going to get drawn into a public slanging match, but it did offer a reminder about the injunction it took out against the FIA's 2010 regulations because of a technical veto right it had in place.

"Ferrari does not intend to comment on the press release put out this afternoon by the FIA," said the Ferrari statement.

"However, Ferrari wishes to make it clear that on 15th June last, it already instigated arbitration against the FIA to protect its contractual rights in its dealings with this Federation, including those relative to the respecting of procedures as regards the adoption of regulations and the right to veto."

oh man...the drama begins...if the break away series does happen, the FIA is done done done

long as the FOTA all get along