Toyota pulls out...is F1 on the ropes?
- Thread starter BigWill
- Start date
accuratehorn
10,000+ Posts
F1 can't see it as a positive, that's for sure. But with the new formula starting next year, and new teams coming in, with lower costs as the goal, will it really hurt F1? Honda dropped out, and a private team came in and bought the pieces and won the World Championship with them.
It's a world-wide recession, and big companies are cutting back on racing budgets. Bridgestone dropped out, Honda, Toyota, and Kawasaki out of racing, who's next?
F1 will survive if Ferrari and McLaren stay in.
It's a world-wide recession, and big companies are cutting back on racing budgets. Bridgestone dropped out, Honda, Toyota, and Kawasaki out of racing, who's next?
F1 will survive if Ferrari and McLaren stay in.
Man, a week or so ago I made a big reply here that got lost when my browser crashed. I was pissed. It was really good and covered a lot of stuff. Didn't much feel like rewriting all of that, and it wouldn't have come out the same anyway. But there's been some new news since then, so here goes.
Since the post above, what I thought might happen has happened. Looks like the move of Brawn to Mercedes has hastened the move of World Champion Jenson Button to McLaren, creating an all-British driving lineup and team for McLaren.
It also opens the door for Mercedes to have an all-German team...possibly with Nico Rosberg and Nick Heidfeld in the seats...or will they pursue Kimi Raikonnen to sit alongside Rosberg? This is probably the main real reason Brawn GP and Button were said to be in contract difficulties for so long. The reality is that the team was in negotiations with Mercedes, and Mercedes didn't want Button. Button was just "on hold".
Interesting developments in light of recent manufacturer pullouts. F1 has lost Japan, at least in terms of manufacturers, but maybe they are going to solidify market/national/regional ties through the makeups of the teams.
- McLaren: now British through and through
- Mercedes GP: all-German? German/Finn?
- Ferrari: Italian "national" team with Spanish and Brazilian drivers who are adored by their countries. Ensures high viewership in all 3 countries.
- Force India: huge market locked up there
- Renault: retains the French market, and brings in Poland with Robert Kubica behind the wheel
- Williams: a huge pot of sponsorship $ from AT&T, and not much else that I can discern.
- Red Bull: Brings the Austrian market and strengthens Germany with Sebastian vettel behind the wheel. They bring Australia with Mark Webber.
- Campos Meta: strengthens Spain, but will play second fiddle to Alonso. Also, strengthens Brazil by signing the Brazilian legend Ayrton Senna's nephew, Bruno Senna.
- Manor GP: strengthens England, but more importantly will likely sell 20% of the company to the Virgin Group and be renamed, bringing a lot more money to F1.
- USF1: could begin to generate more US interest in F1, esp if they eventually land a big US racing name or if they have some success and build an American F1 driver into something
- Lotus: No this isn't the same Lotus that won 7 F1 WCC's competing between 1958 & 1994, but they could bring a lot to the table since they are the only Asian entry. The Maylasian team is rumored to have just hired Jarno Trulli to mentor a Maylasian reserve driver.
So that's the UK, Germany, France, Poland, Austria, Italy, Spain, Australia, India, Brazil, The U.S., possibly Finland, and Maylasia now with team ties to F1. In addition, there'll be races in most of those countries + Bahrain, China, Monaco, Canada, Hungary, Belgium, Singapore, Japan, Korea, and Abu Dhabi. Not terrible.
Imagine if they opened up engine supply and let in an American supplier like Ford, who's also already huge in Europe and worldwide. Maybe some American fans would sit up and take notice then. Certainly Ford would be promoting the hell out of it.
Wow...there really could be 3 or 4 high-powered teams next year:
Mercedes: Nico Rosberg/Kimi Riakonnen or Nick Heidfeld
Ferrari: Fernando Alonso/Felipe Massa
McLaren: Lewis Hamilton/Jenson Button
Red Bull: Sebastian Vettel/Mark Webber
It also opens the door for Mercedes to have an all-German team...possibly with Nico Rosberg and Nick Heidfeld in the seats...or will they pursue Kimi Raikonnen to sit alongside Rosberg? This is probably the main real reason Brawn GP and Button were said to be in contract difficulties for so long. The reality is that the team was in negotiations with Mercedes, and Mercedes didn't want Button. Button was just "on hold".
Interesting developments in light of recent manufacturer pullouts. F1 has lost Japan, at least in terms of manufacturers, but maybe they are going to solidify market/national/regional ties through the makeups of the teams.
- McLaren: now British through and through
- Mercedes GP: all-German? German/Finn?
- Ferrari: Italian "national" team with Spanish and Brazilian drivers who are adored by their countries. Ensures high viewership in all 3 countries.
- Force India: huge market locked up there
- Renault: retains the French market, and brings in Poland with Robert Kubica behind the wheel
- Williams: a huge pot of sponsorship $ from AT&T, and not much else that I can discern.
- Red Bull: Brings the Austrian market and strengthens Germany with Sebastian vettel behind the wheel. They bring Australia with Mark Webber.
- Campos Meta: strengthens Spain, but will play second fiddle to Alonso. Also, strengthens Brazil by signing the Brazilian legend Ayrton Senna's nephew, Bruno Senna.
- Manor GP: strengthens England, but more importantly will likely sell 20% of the company to the Virgin Group and be renamed, bringing a lot more money to F1.
- USF1: could begin to generate more US interest in F1, esp if they eventually land a big US racing name or if they have some success and build an American F1 driver into something
- Lotus: No this isn't the same Lotus that won 7 F1 WCC's competing between 1958 & 1994, but they could bring a lot to the table since they are the only Asian entry. The Maylasian team is rumored to have just hired Jarno Trulli to mentor a Maylasian reserve driver.
So that's the UK, Germany, France, Poland, Austria, Italy, Spain, Australia, India, Brazil, The U.S., possibly Finland, and Maylasia now with team ties to F1. In addition, there'll be races in most of those countries + Bahrain, China, Monaco, Canada, Hungary, Belgium, Singapore, Japan, Korea, and Abu Dhabi. Not terrible.
Imagine if they opened up engine supply and let in an American supplier like Ford, who's also already huge in Europe and worldwide. Maybe some American fans would sit up and take notice then. Certainly Ford would be promoting the hell out of it.
Wow...there really could be 3 or 4 high-powered teams next year:
Mercedes: Nico Rosberg/Kimi Riakonnen or Nick Heidfeld
Ferrari: Fernando Alonso/Felipe Massa
McLaren: Lewis Hamilton/Jenson Button
Red Bull: Sebastian Vettel/Mark Webber
USF1 has thrown lots of names out there, I think mostly to get attention and stir up buzz, including Kurt Busch and Danica Patrick. Nothing's ever seemed to have anything real behind it with any of them though. Honestly, I think they may just be waitning to see how the silly season starts to settle out to see what scraps of drivers they'll end up with a shot at....however, there are reports in some Spanish-language newspapers that USF1 has agreed to terms with former GP2 driver and Renault test driver Jose Maria Lopez. Americans Alexander Rossi (cureently in GP2) and Jonathan Summerton are also being mentioned prominently....with Jacques Villeneuve possibly being the lead driver.
Here's a nice little rumor for you though on the Mercedes GP front re: the all-German driver lineup:
Rosberg or Raikonnen + Schumacher
Yes.
THAT Schumacher.
There are also a couple sources already reporting Raikonnen signed today, so if Schumi comes, it'll leave Rosberg seatless, at least for now.
The Link
Here's a nice little rumor for you though on the Mercedes GP front re: the all-German driver lineup:
Rosberg or Raikonnen + Schumacher
Yes.
THAT Schumacher.
There are also a couple sources already reporting Raikonnen signed today, so if Schumi comes, it'll leave Rosberg seatless, at least for now.
The Link
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