Ferrari lost their case. The courts ruled in favor of FIA President Max Mosely's proposed $60 million budget cap, something Ferrari was fighting because it would force them to slash their own annual budget by nearly 90 percent. Ferrari, Renault, Red Bull, Toyota, and Toro Rosso are all threatening to pull out of the series for 2010, as none of the teams agree with the budget cap. The most egregious misstep of the proposed cap is the invention of, essentially, a two-tiered championship system.
According to Mosely, teams that willingly comply with the budget cap will be given more technical freedom than the teams that don't. Ferrari equated this to two runners in a 100-meter race, but one of the runners has to carry a sack of potatoes on his back.
It is universally acknowledged that the budget cap is Max Mosely's way of leaving his mark on the sport before he retires. Of course, it is the opinion of the Right Wing, that there are better ways to leave your mark than chasing off five of the current ten teams, and having beaten one team (McLaren) into virtual submission. I think the only reason McLaren hasn't joined Ferrari and Renault is because they are too afraid to step out of line right now, as they basically get punished for the slightest things.
Not that Ferrari has been perfectly nice, though. When they saw a leaked list of the teams wanting to join the field in 2010, they scoffed. Teams like ProDrive, USF1, Lola, Epsilon Euskadi, iSport, and Formtech will have an easier path with a lowered budget structure. But according to Ferrari, none of these teams are famous enough to make for compelling racing. If you take Ferrari's side in this argument, then we should kick out Force India and Toro Rosso, because neither are famous enough to be involved with Formula 1 racing.
It's relatively easy to see that Formula 1 as we know it died today. If the five teams pull out, and if McLaren actually does opt to go with them, Bernie Eccelstone and Max Mosely will be the biggest losers. The teams association, FOTA, has talked before of creating their own break-away series. This could be the proverbial straw that makes the camel leave Bernie and Max and go off on its own.
No comments:
Post a Comment