BMW Sauber (w/Other Manufacturers) Vote to Leave F1
No MINI doesn’t race in F1, but their parent company BMW does. And there will be no bigger news in the world of BMW Motorsport over the next 6 months than the bombshell that just dropped this evening in the UK. In a dramatic turn of events Formula 1 manufacturers (including Ferrari) voted this evening to leave F1 and set upp a new championship for 2010. After months of negotiations with Max Mosley and the FIA it appears that F1 as we’ve all known it is over. Here’s the official release from BMW Motorports:
>”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,” said a statement issued by FOTA after the meeting.
>”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. 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.”
<p>WOW, now this is huge news.</p>
<p>Not a total surprise however as the voices against it have been consistently growing. These 8 teams leaving is going to widely gut the FIA. Lets just hope we see FOTA work past some of the issues that FIA has had.</p>
<p>Enough FIA political b**t for me, but a breakaway series is really bad for F1.</p>
<p>Half Size Rear Wing, KERS, budget cap, standard engine… when will we see the end of Max Mosley’s new “regulation”?</p>
<p>Holy crap! This is big news, and I’m all for it. I really didn’t like some of the decisions FIA has been putting out lately, and apparently, neither did anyone else.</p>
<p>A very sad day for the pinnacle of motorsports :(</p>
<p>Wow, I am not a follower of this sport but love to watch it when I can. This is MAJOR LOW BLOW for FIA, they should of listened to the people who pay to see this, there are many other issues involved in this that we do not know, best of luck for the new series. KEEP ON MOTORING!!!!!</p>
<p>So does this risk becoming an F1 incarnation of CART?</p>
<p>Can they possibly screw this up as bad as American open wheel racing?</p>
<p>:-(</p>
<p>I’m about over Formula 1 with all the stuff that’s been going on. ALMS is much more interesting to me lately.</p>
<p>Max needs to get out! He’s a pervert and seems to have lost his way with FIA and where it’s going. He’s been trying to get the costs down but not listening to the teams that make him money is really stupid. Does anybody really care if Lola, Cosworth, Cooper or the John Player Special cars return?</p>
<p>Funny that a few years back he was the one who fixed a similar mess in F1.</p>
<p>It’s looking like CART all over again. Just when US/GP F1 was going to enter. ALMS is cool but it’s not F1. What will they call the new series… The Formula Series That Was F1? TFSTWF1… has a nice ring to it… not! Both sides need to communicate.</p>
<p>I wonder when the lawsuits will begin as Max has threatened?</p>
<p>Hey they could call it 1F.</p>
<p>This is the end of the top tier Open Wheel racing series…much like IRL became a watered down version of North Americal Open Wheel (I was a long time CART/Champcar fan) in a few years no one will care or remember about FIA. This series is dead, no matter what kind of lawsuits come of it. It is for the better, and may a new and REAL unlimited racing series find a way to replace it.</p>
<p>I have to agree, they are going down the same path as CART & IRL did. Great way to kill F1. While not a fan of the FIA this just seems like a very bad move.</p>
<p>Well done, it hurts because I’m an F1 fan, but Mosley and Bernie are lately taking the wrong decisions. This new era will improove the sport.</p>
<p>Way I understand it was that KERs, the half wing and whatever didn’t really have that much to do with it. There was this wacky notion that there would be a two tiered rule system based on something I don’t remember that really would have screwed the pooch. The back room talk was that the ruling on the front wing designs that are now legal but were counter to the spirit of the latest rule changes was Max sticking his thumb in the eye of the likes of Ferrari and McLaren, and it seems to have worked!</p>
<p>Anyway, if this rift isn’t settled, it will do no one any good to have two smaller series running in the same performace category.</p>
<p>And where will the new guys race? What tracks? Won’t be the same ones that F1 is running on….</p>
<p>Sad day all over…</p>
<p>Matt</p>
<p>Maybe now the breakaway series will come back to the US?</p>
<p>I always found the LeMans series of races much more interesting than F1, so I’m not going to miss it – hope to see a more interesting class of racing come about with its demise.</p>
<p>Max and Bernie have been attempting to make so much money from Formula One, they have messed up things so incredibly, it has come to this! F1 will not go away, it will survive and be a better sport.</p>
<p>The thing of it is that the last two F1 championships were the most competitive in recent history, and after each one the FIA changed the rules substantially – under the auspices of making it more competitive. Well, that’s worked out very well this year, hasn’t it?</p>
<p>A new series based on a similar formula with so much manufacturer support should be far, far better than CART/Champ Car/IRL efforts. For a series to be interesting to me, it needs to include major manufacturers. Back when IMSA/LeMans included Jaguar, Nissan, Toyota and Porsche (in various combinations), GTP racing was my favorite motorsport. Nowadays the ALMS doesn’t have nearly enough diversity for me to take it seriously, and of course the Rolex series is hopeless as NASCARs on road courses.</p>
<p>I know I run counter to the accepted wisdom, but as a race fan I’d rather watch a boring season of F1 with high-tech cars from famous teams and manufacturers then watch the most closely fought one-make or otherwise dumbed-down series.</p>
<p>This is a bombshell… up to now I had thought this primarily a high stakes bluff and I guess the stakes just got much much higher. I’m kind of excited though… F1 just hasn’t been as interesting to me lately… and like many Canadians I took it quite personally that Montreal was threatened with cancellation each of the past few years, then truly cancelled. I’m with Bee that the series is more exciting when major manufacturers are represented, preferably chassis + engine efforts. I’m keen to see what we get for next season and how the rest of this season is affected too. Hmm…</p>
<p>I was under the impression (and still am) that Formula 1 was where the most absolutely perfect, refined, cutting-edge motorsport technology went. Now what? Where will I go for my 20,000 RPM fix? I can only hope.</p>
<p>Mosley needs to be spanked.</p>
<p>It’s been done. It didn’t help.</p>