Yes, any diminution of F1 has been with FIA complicity, if not outright implementation. I’m looking at you, Napoleon Todt. Organizations like that have an obsession with “progress.” Sometimes the best solution is to maintain a good situation, or even to take a step or two back. But they have to be seen as “doing something.” Fiddling with tire regulations, qualifying formats, restrictions on testing, rules directed toward making the sport “relevant,” massive expansion of venues, etc., have all diminished the sport, in my opinion.
I would agree. In Todt's/FIA's defense I can understand the need to make F1 PC and give it a green touch (KERS). Not sure that is still required now that Formula E is around. Maybe we could go back to more basic engines and racing. I bet the fans wouldn't mind hearing a 3 liter normally aspirated motor over a tiny turbo with fuel flow restrictions.
Anything that moves F1 away from being a spec series and artifices like the current tire regulations would be an improvement. Make the sport, the regulations and the cars less complex , not more so. Make success more about what happens in the cockpit and less about what happens on the pit wall and in the data center back in the U.K.
What happens back in the data centers is what makes the cars go faster. Making cars go faster and faster continuously has always been what F1 was about. And not just in the modern era.
Well, not really. If anything, regulations in recent years have been more about limiting speed, either through engine restrictions, tire manipulation, aero limitations, fuel consumption limits, etc. What happens in the cockpit should be more important than what happens in the data centers. Besides, technology has made driverless cars possible, so if ultimate speed is decided by a guy sitting at a console in a clean room, why not just go with that?
Possibly some would, but not all. F1 has always been looking forward and seen as a source of progress and innovation. The future of F1 will not be to visit memory lane, I'm pretty sure. If F1 was to go back to NA V10 engines as advocated by some on this forum, the manufacturers would walk away. What would the point for them to invest in old technology just to race, when their products are all turbo hybrids to abide by emission laws? It wouldn't make sense, IMO, for Mercedes and else to go 20 years back in design. It would be counter-productive from a marketing point of view. If an independent small engine builder was to provide the grid with NA V10s, that could be different, but I guess it wouldn't be financially viable.
F1 is dead, no matter what Hamilton or Ferrari do or don't do. Its time has passed. It is a giant money pit that no manufacturer needs in the global economy. Just as movies are now made by video streaming companies, auto racing (in all its forms) will also become VR games. COVID 19 and the damage it has done to this season is the excuse the players need to call it a day and walk away. If they run this years cars in an abbreviate 10 to 12 races next year, that will be it.
There is that. No doubt. However we still have polo and horse races. And sailing yacht regattas. F1 as a throwback would be a fan pleaser IMHO.
And not just that. The majority of viewers don't give a toss as to the engine tech-spec, just as they don't give a toss to the racket technology in tennis. And yet Wimbledon gets rammed each year (2020 excepted) Audiences arrive to watch exciting races and a soundtrack which was other-worldly. F1 has gone A Bit Beige in the last 7 years
F1 could be all the better for losing the big money. Think back to the golden years of F1 in the '50s and '60s. No ridiculous salaries for the likes of Moss, Brabham and Clark, no big budgets for Cooper, Lotus and Tyrrell. The most successful F1 engine of all time developed with a budget of £100K. Room for privateers like Rob Walker and Ken Tyrrell. No cars done up like a dog's breakfast, just national colours. Races won by great drivers in outclassed cars like Fangio in the '57 German GP, or Moss at Monaco in '61. Great racing, great days!
Daimler wants them to be self sustaining which is not easy, add to that if they win this year and now the “static” cars for next year they will have all the records and may not keep going.
Completely agree. Exciting NA engines that live and breath could now be had for around £300K I believe. Cheap as chips and will sound almost as good as the Valkyrie street car. It wasn't so long ago that F1 cars sounded better than street cars.....
They are quite comfortable over all is Mercedes - https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/146346/mercedes-reveals-cost-of-2018-f1-title-win The Mercedes Formula 1 team earned and spent almost the same amount in 2018 as it did in 2017, newly released accounts have revealed. The team's income, from F1 prize money, sponsorship and parent company Daimler AG, rose from £337.2m in 2017 to £338.4m last year. Expenditure increased from £309.7m to £311.4m, resulting in a post tax profit of £13.3m. Income and expenditure had previously made a significant jump from 2016 to 2017, with the latter figures reflecting the R&D costs associated with the major F1 rules changes introduced that season. The fact that its expenditure essentially stayed the same in 2018 suggests that Mercedes opted to maintain that level of investment in a period of relatively stable rules. However there is no outward sign yet of the team addressing the cost cap that is coming in 2021, and which will force the big three teams to trim spending and inevitably head counts. Image Unavailable, Please Login Over the past three seasons average staff numbers have risen from 849 in 2016 to 912 in 2017 and to 968 in 2018, with 38 added last year in design, manufacturing and engineering, and 19 in administration. That contributed to the 2018 wage bill increasing by £6.5m from £87.2m to £93.7m. The marketing revenue contribution of Daimler AG to the team's budget is listed as £64.3m, around £4m more than the previous year. However £25.3m is returned by the team - reflecting the leasing cost of the power units supplied by sister company HPP. That leaves a net Daimler contribution of less than £40m. Mercedes enjoyed a 24% share of F1's TV coverage in 2018, which represents an AER (Advertising Value Equivalent) of $3.7bn for its commercial partners. In emphasising the value of the F1 programme the team says: "In parallel to the team's success in recent seasons, the Mercedes-Benz brand has grown in value from $31.9bn in 2013 to $48.6bn in 2018 (as measured by Interbrand), with F1 making an important contribution to the brand's status as the eighth most valuable in the world."
If Merc quite of course he would go to Ferrari. He can beat RB with the Fcar all day long, no other competition.
The losses matter but in the larger scheme they will have an issue this year mostly. Assume next year yields a full season. Remaining in F1 does not appear to be a major resource drain, coupled with the new lower team budgets mandated. The power 3 of teams, Ferrari, Red Bull and Mercedes will not suffer greatly just yet I feel.
Thanks for sharing. I have no love for them, but I want MB in the sport. I just want SF to beat them fair and square. As for Louis, I’m not sure if its the right move for us, but if it happens then he will have my support. My main focus is on Charles but I don’t see HAM as a more difficult team mate than VET. nk
To whom? To a team with a currently uncompetitive car:: the data centers are more important ! To the fans who simply root for F1:: it is the race -- cars and drivers To fans who root for one team:: it depends on whether the team is capable of winning today or not (data center). To the fans who root for one driver:: it depends on what his team is currently capable of.....
That $100K is $800K in today's dollars. Second, that engine went from just over 300 HP in 1968 to just over 500 HP only with continuous development funds from both F1 and Indy cars one in NA gasoline form the other in 2.4L turbo methanol form. But realistically, it was Renault's pneumatic valve springs that took NA cars from 500 HP (200 HP/litré) to 900+HP (300 HP/Litré) when the rules switched to small turbo hybrids.
