Qwerty at Motor Racing Journal pointed out a scandalous, but unsurprising, report from Pitpass that suggested that the Max Mosley and Bernie Ecclestone conspired to help Michael Schumacher win the 1994 championship for commercial purposes, and to help the FIA avoid embarrassment over their apparent failure to detect an irregularity with Benetton's fuel rig.
Of course, this is going to happen as long as Formula 1 conducts itself as the most ruthlessly capitalistic enterprises in the world. Bernie Ecclestone's secret Concorde Agreements, the reduction in field sizes, and the outsourcing of the races to foreign markets with no popular interest in auto racing are just some of the signs that Formula 1 will soon lose its identity and values as a sport and focus entirely on the bottom line. This kind of thinking has been responsible for some of the worst economic, human rights and environmental disasters of the past twenty years, and it is no coincidence that Bernie Ecclestone, aged 77, is a businessman from an era in which one could get away with the consequences of unrestrained capitalism. But the 21st century is a different world, and we need a new direction if we do not want to cause irreversible damage to Formula 1.
If Formula 1, as we know it, is to survive, it cannot be controlled by dictators. It needs to be decentralized and run by no-one. Any country or circuit promoter who wants to hold a Formula 1 race should be able to do so, without having to negotiate with Bernie Ecclestone or anyone. Any team with a car built to Formula 1 specifications should be able to participate in any of these races. If there is an international organization holding this together, their only purpose should be to help coordinate the races to ensure there are no serious conflicts between races, to standardize the technical specifications, and to provide guidance on safety. This organization may also designate one race per year to be the "world championship" race.
Such a movement will have to start at the grassroots level. A truly successful racing event begins with someone who is passionate about auto racing and wants to bring it to his or her hometown. The Macau Grand Prix and Long Beach Grand Prix are just two excellent examples where both the initial and continuing support came from one of the locals (Teddy Yip and Chris Pook, respectively). These races will continue indefinitely, no matter what series is racing there, because they have become part of the tradition of the city. In contrast, no-one can seriously say that the Chinese Grand Prix was founded by anyone in Shanghai who knew much about auto racing, or cared about anything besides the short-term economic benefits it would bring to the city. Even if there was a local government behind the project, I am sure that it was Bernie Ecclestone's idea all along, and that he made the initial proposal.
So, what can we do? Let's take back control of Formula 1 by organizing the races ourselves. If you are very passionate about Formula 1 and have some spare time, start a committee to stage a Formula 1 race in your hometown. Get a map of your city and draw a circuit on it. If there's already a circuit nearby, use that if you want. The Formula 1 specifications are right here; just copy and paste this into your rulebook. Now, create a slick PowerPoint presentation and sell it to your city government, local sponsors, and race teams in your area. Okay, so you can't get enough Formula 1 cars to your race the first year? No problem---make it a Formula 3 race and no-one's going to notice. With some luck but mostly persistence, you can create your own Macau or Long Beach. And that would be an important step towards injecting more heart and soul, instead of money, into the sport.
Monday, May 26, 2008
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5 comments:
You've really got the point there! Though just making those races just yourself could be really hard and could burn much money.
Of course. I am just hoping some well-connected, wealthy person somewhere might read this and think about how they can make a difference. I still think a good Formula 1 (or IndyCar) race really should be created from the grassroots, not by Bernie Ecclestone working out of his London office and demanding millions of dollars of fees. I think that would promote local competition, make F1 more accessible to people, and cut down on the costs. Also, this would also help stimulate the racing industry as constructors like Lola and Dallara could sell real Formula 1 cars, and of course Cosworth already has an F1 engine sitting around. The most successful regional participants of F1 could be invited to race in the world championship, thus making the championship even more competitive at the top.
..Like Porsche does construct race-ready LMP2 cars for privateers. So even bigger marquees could produce cars for privateers, like McLaren or Ferrari.
Yes, and I believe if there were more Formula 1 races, the privateers would not go out of business so easily. Super Aguri could be doing the Japanese circuits, gradually building up their skills and sponsorships, before they move to more prestigious F1 races. We need nothing short of F1 at the local level to prepare new teams---history has shown that F3, F3000, GP2 and others do not prepare anybody for F1.
You all make good points, but the real problem is money.
Yes Bernie and Max are money hungry, but so are Ferrari, BMW, Mercedes, Honda, Toyota, Sauber, etc...
No one will support a team with hundreds of millions of dollars without a guarantee that their advertising money will be gain them exposure and customers.
Grassroots movements, whether political or like this, never gain attention because the media conglomerates. Since they are the people who fund the entire F1 world, it's very unlikely that they will spend any time pushing a localized movement since that means less consumers and less money in the end.
The real way to get this done is to get the drivers on board. They might be the most appreciative members of the F1 world who would encourage less politics and more racing. Get the drivers behind it and get them to push the idea in interviews and so forth, this might go somewhere.
I have a lot more respect for the CART/F1 seperation and other spinoffs due to conflicts with Bernie and others.
If you want pure racing, start doing it yourself (see below). Don't expect an F1 quality operation with the greatest most expensive cars in the world to come to your local town to do a race; lets be realistic guys.
If you want grassroots, go to an SCCA race.
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