Monday 21st May 2001

F1 Falters?

Manufacturers to go it alone

---

[dubbs]

Excellent news! This should see some interesting things happening all over the industry. Last year''s deliberations with the British GP, Bernie, Nicola Foulsdon, Brands and Silverstone sent the whole motorsport world into a little turmoil. It would be good for the whole industry to knock a little wind out of the F1 sails.

[AndrewD]

Hasn't this been doing the rounds for a while now? Presume it is just a story to put the wind up Bernie's sails whilst the manufacturers negotiate some concession or other?

[nmilton]

It surfaced a couple of months ago and cropped up on Autosport.com on Friday. I'm guessing it's a bit of sabre-rattling but if they're not careful they could end up having to put their money where their mouths are. Frankly I can't see it being any more successful than F1 currently is purely because the most important manufacturers, i.e. Fiat, Mercedes and BMW are involved - you'll still have all the same politics and mistrust between them all, except now they'll all have much more to lose. Bernie, for all his faults, does seem to have a knack for sorting things like this out, though how far his patience will stretch remains to be seen. He didn't sound too impressed when it was first proposed !!

[.mark]

It seems they always make noises but things rarely come of them, 2008 is a long time away, long enough for the public to forget about what was said. What ever happened to Premier1? This was the new series supposedly starting this year then put back to next now gone all quiet. They were going to be a single make formula racing in top football team colours.

[lucky]

Here in the USA a lot of racing fans are denied seeing F1 at all, because of TV rights. This is a huge market for BMW, FOrd, and of course DaimlerCrysler. I'm not surprised they'd go it alone to get better exposure in the US market.

[jamesc]

Here in the UK we are denied live NASCAR, can we do a swap? NASCAR is far more exciting than F1.

[ahonen]

OK, F1 is pretty dull at times, but nascar? Lord, save us from the hillbillies... If you want to watch exciting racing, GP 'bikes or WSB should fit the bill. Both are live on terrestrial telly, and neither feature Murray Walker. Double bonus.

[jamesc]

The Bikes are exciting, and no Tony Jardine either!

[jmorgan]

They should do away with qualifi, quil, the Saturday rubbish and draw lots. Good drivers that draw further down the field would make it a Sunday afternoon to watch the box rather than the lawn. I think that qualifi, quil, Saturday is just to sell TV rights and make more money.

[.mark]

When I used to race in saloon cars, the best/fastest guys used to start at the back and the novices used to be at the front, made for much more interesting racing as they fought their way through the traffic. It always does wonders for an F1 race if the front runner stalls or something like DC in Monaco.

[GasBlaster]

The only way to make current F1 exciting is to impose a rule whereby each driver has to complete one lap per race GOING THE OTHER WAY. Of course, skinnier tyres, reducing downforce and turbocharging would also work... As would making the top drivers drink Champagne BEFORE the race... Christ, I'm bored.. too much F1...