please log in to view this image Is anyone else fed up with di Montezemolo's annual threat of a breakaway series? Or the FIA's capitulation in the face of it? Sometimes I wish Ferrari would breakaway and leave the rest of the teams to a fair fight. Then again, maybe they're all in it together as di Montezemolo, Dieter Zetsche, Dietrich Matezschitz and an as yet unidentified representative for McLaren meet in Stuttgart. Worried?
If they could get the FIA just to keep a set of regulations for more then 3 and a half weeks I'd be happy. Give the teams a little slack to develop variations in cars! Or do the decent thing and set up a good break away series
The best possible thing for F1 would be to get rid of Ferrari. To have a team which calls the shots or influences the competition in any way other than a simple offering of feedback is tantamount to a football team forcing the governing body (FIFA I believe) into playing the game with a tennis ball or altering the number of players. Ferrari can get lost as far as I am concerned. I hope they break away to form their own one make series and I will celebrate hugely if the rest of the competitors (the true competitors) tell them where to shove their self-serving regulations, and never let them 'come back' until they agree to be just another team like all of the rest… As you can probably sense, Ferrari's string-pulling and general arrogance irritates me intensely…
Would never have guessed. I've got nothing against Ferrari being in F1 (they make good villains), but I wish they where in F1 on the same terms as the rest of the teams.
Yes. That's all I'm getting at actually. Unfortunately, it will not happen until my above suggestion comes true. Seriously. They call the shots and have done for many decades… I used to have a Ferrari and still get the occasional phone call or sales leaflet inviting me to take a test drive. I have told their sales team to pass the message up that I am not interested and the reason is almost entirely their Formula 1 team and the associated manoeuvring. Until that finally stops, I will never touch another and I say sincerely that that means I'll die first. Truly; their operation makes me sick…
Thankyou for that link Genji. In it, Pitpass also says: "So Ecclestone cannot pull the same trick he used in 2005 when he gave Ferrari $100 million to pull out of one of the many threatened rival series it has been involved with" You know what? Although I'd heard such rumour close to the time, this is actually the first time I've seen it reported. Some time later, word was that it was something of a coincidence that McLaren's 'Spygate' fine was exactly the same figure, but without evidence, I chose to overlook it as potential hearsay. Of course, Ecclestone was not the direct recipient of McLaren's vindictive fine - which went to the FIA, but the inter-connectedness of Ecclestone, Mosley (FIA President at the time) and their common interest in the red team make uncomfortable reading.
Cosicave I have finally come across someone ie you! that appears to resent Ferrari more than I do !! I would be happy if they do not join a breakaway group, and risk longterm exclusion. It is sad that a make with such an illustrious past should appear to be run by such people as we've come to know and love. Not!
Yes Bergkamp. But I would love it if Ferrari left. Motor racing does not need Ferrari and should never have agreed to what was little short of a bribe. And I am not just speaking of this $100 million payment; that is very much the thin end of the wedge! Ferrari have held all sorts of influence, vetoes and extra money (ã50 million per annum) for decades, which they made a condition of their participation, whilst all the other teams have to bow down to them and say "yes, master I will lick your shoes if asked". If I had my way, I would deliberately set up a race-series explicitly excluding Ferrari from any presence at any venue, including advertising. Wasn't the world a better place after the Axis powers of Hitler left it?
Genji - loved the pictures. But thought the title could be more along the lines of beware the stiletto , not his footwear.
While reading Bernie's book 'No Angel' I have learnt over the few days that Luca has threatened to leave F1 for and set up a rival series plenty of times. Formula 1 is a buisness not a sport because Ferrari and everyone else will kick off as much as they can to get more money. Ferrari may pretend like eveybody else in that paddock that F1 is their passion but really it's about chucking their cars on center stage and winning more than anybody else. So what if Ferrari gets a bigger cut of the pie than the likes of McLaren or Williams. Dennis and Frank went behind the backs of the other smaller teams and settled their problems with Bernie with also more money while the scraps were left for the rest. The name 'F1' is needed by Ferrari to promote their cars on a worldwide scale, Ferrari help the numbers but they are not needed to keep it stable, or as a huge money maker for Bernie and the other teams. Let's also be honest here, Bernie made the sport it is today, he has cheated, dictated, manipulated and threatend his way to make it what it is today. I'm very sure whatever sum Bernie gets, if it goes through, he'll still have won outright and still be in some considerable power with his connections in the sport.
Haha. Cheers. Yeah, I couldn't think of anything clever so I just picked up the first link, which is about him sabre-rattling again. We've heard it so many times before. I appreciate Ferrari's position in F1 - the history, romance, glamour and so on. The thing is, everyone knows Ferrari have another, very different side to their past and in any case it's the present that matters in a sport like F1. They may consider themselves to be the heart and soul of the sport and believe F1 should be a battleground for manufacturers but the way manufacturers treat the sport I don't believe that gives them any greater right to the spoils and I don't think the sport would be any worse without them now. In a way, Ferrari is the least convincing voice in the breakaway series threat. I think Ferrari needs F1 a lot more than F1 needs Ferrari. Exactly.
Ferrari have always tried to cheatr their way to victory, remember Niki Lauda's comments about the penalty Hamlton was given at Spa 2008. I did always wonder why they appointed Toadt at the FIA, and it always seems suspicious. All tht cheating he did with Schumacher, and now he's back to do it all again There are a few rival series out there I think. A1Gp was supposed to challenge F1, but the drivers there are shocking, the racing is boring, and barely anyone has heard of it. Champcar is the USA alternative, but i don't know if thats like GP2 or F3. The drivers there also aren't very good (Bourdais). So if Ferrari make their own series (probably Formula Ferrari, something along the lines) it'll just turn out to be a feeder series to the proper F1. Theres no way that they could have enough money to fund it, even with all the road cars they've sold, and the amount of money they have cheated
The sport ( normally called Bernie's business ) found a fantastic source of revenue, and ultimately clout, when young Michael was 'discovered'. Matching that with Ferrari and you have an undeniable income stream from the biggest market ie Germany, and the supposed glamour of the prancing horse. A marriage made in heaven or was that hell? Now that era is over I hope we are not glimpsing the next with Vettel and F ( Mercedes is the apprenticeship). A breakaway is my only hope.
Bernie loves a England vs Germany fight on a racetrack. I wouldn't be suprised if he tried to overhype the rivalry of Vettel vs Lewis down the line. He did it with Schumacher vs Damon for around 3 years.
