Warning: Big Egos At Work

Is it really going to come down to this? It looks like Max Mosley has been incensed by the FOTA members, and specifically Ferrari President Luca di Montezemolo, after they went to the press and claimed victory as well as finally getting rid of Mosley. He is now going back on the warpath and we may still see a breakaway if Mosley ends up flip-flopping and running again. This reminds me of Brett Favre in a way. He retired once, then got in a spat with Packers management, came back, got sent to New York, is still out for revenge and will stop at nothing to see the GM humiliated by going and playing for a rival team. Much like Favre wants revenge on the GM of the Packers, so too does Mosley now want revenge on the FOTA alliance. I have to imagine that in this new war of words and egos, that everyone will now seriously lose out.

I am all for FOTA, but they have to realize that if this is the way they want to go about getting their series, that they already had most of the public backing them and that they didn’t need to sign anything. Now that they have committed to change, they should have all made good and just kept their mouths shut. If this is what truly breaks up Formula One, it will be a sad day.

An Agreement Reached [Updated]

It is now over. After months of speculation and the very real threat of a breakaway series, the FIA has come to a compromise with FOTA. There will be only one Formula One World Championship next year, though the full, definite list of entrants now has to be redone. It shouldn’t look much different than the one that was released a few weeks ago, with the exception that there will not be asterisks next to five of the teams.

The two sides found an agreement that worked for both of them after talks between FOTA chairman and Ferrari President Luca di Montezemolo and Max Mosley went long into the night Tuesday and early into the morning Wednesday, and before a meeting at the World Motor Sport Council in Paris. Although there are no details about the cost reduction, there was still a big plus for the teams. They got Max Mosley to end his bid for re-election in the fall for President of the FIA. The most likely candidate to take over his spot is Jean Todt, the former World Rally co-driver and Ferrari Formula One team principal. “There will be no split,” Mosley said. “We have agreed to a reduction of costs.” The objective for the sport is to get the spending levels down to what they were in the early 1990s within two years. I am not sure what the figures for spending were for back then (as I was only about six or seven) but I’m sure that someone will have those figures soon.

So what does this mean? Essentially, it means a grid full of happy participants who are going to work hard to make sure that they are at the forefront of innovation in open wheeled racing. And I know it is a good thing that there won’t be a split because the costs will be lower (but not outrageously so) and Mosley won’t be there to always look over the teams’ back and make sure there is always some sort of conflict. Also, it is good for the fan base as they won’t have to split their allegiance to one series or another. All in all, I think that the teams came out of this looking fairly clean, while the FIA can lick their wounds knowing that they did all they could under the pressure of the fans, the teams and the car manufacturers. In the end I believe that Max did the right thing and that F1 will be better off for it in the long run.

It has been confirmed that all of the ten teams from this season, plus the three newcomers are in the F1 Championship for next season. The full statement can be found here, but in essence, it states that the rules are the same as this season, costs will be reduced to 1990s levels by 2011, technical assistance will be provided for the new entrants by the manufacturers and the Concorde Agreement will be updated and provide for the governance of the sport. All in all, this seems like a good result and now we just have to wait another two and a half weeks until the next race in Germany where peace and Red Bull will prevail…followed closely by Brawn.

Top Gear 13.1

            The boys are certainly back. Sunday’s Top Gear episode featured the usual burnouts, fast cars and even a race. While the episode overall was well done, I feel that it could have been improved slightly.

            First off, about the race. It just wasn’t all that good when compared to the other races that they have had. I don’t know why they chose 1949 as the year, but the motorcycle Richard Hammond drove was boring and James May didn’t really have much competition in the Jaguar. The train was interesting for the fact that it took so long to build and is completely bespoke, but other than that (and seeing Jeremy Clarkson get covered in coal dust), the race turned out just as I thought it would. I think that they should have saved that race for later in the program as it didn’t seem to be that big of a deal for a premier episode.

            The second gripe that I have is with the Lotus Evora. Sure it looks like a fun and exciting car that handles just as well off road as on, but when that Porsche Cayman turned up in the back of the picture, I was expecting a race. That race never happened and the Cayman and the Evora merely drove together for a few seconds before the segment was over. I would have liked to have seen how the Lotus stacked up against the Porsche because it seemed to me that the Evora would have had the Cayman in the twisties while the Cayman probably would have made up ground on the straights (depending on the model). A head to head was needed there because all I can remember about that review was Clarkson doing slow donuts in the grass.

            But the show did have an extraordinary highlight though. The Stig was revealed! Ok, so not really, but it was just as spectacular to see Michael Schumacher under the helmet. I mean, how awesome must it have been for that crowd to see a seven time Formula One world champion just a few feet from them without a crowd of bodyguards? And the FXX that he was driving was the absolute best car they have had in a long time. You could tell that that thing was going to demolish the existing track record as soon as it went into the first corner. It simply hunkered down and ploughed through as Schumi was on the throttle the whole time. And the sound that that engine makes is just magic. In reality, that car has about the same, if not more, horsepower than the current crop of F1 cars!

            From the previews they showed of the upcoming episodes, it looks to be a great season. Let’s hope that the rest of the shows only raise the bar and that they don’t have any more races that don’t really have anything to do other than waste time. I am seriously looking forward to the battle between the Renault Megane R26.R and the Ford Focus RS. Until the next episode, here are some pictures of the cars featured in this episode.