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From next year, the FIA plans to introduce a voluntary budget cap of £40 million in an attempt to reduce the costs of competing in Formula One.
In theory, teams will be able to choose whether or not to accept the cap. In practice, however, an uncapped team will face severe restrictions compared to its rivals. Capped teams will enjoy - among other things - unlimited out-of-season testing as well as an entirely different set of technical regulations, including moveable front and rear wings. Perhaps most crucially of all, capped teams will be permitted to run engines without rev limits - a tremendous performance advantage.
Clearly the FIA is trying to play hardball with the constructors: all teams wishing to participate in the 2010 championship must decide which category to join by 29 May. But its proposals are misguided, and the ramifications for the racing have not even been considered. It is gambling on all the teams subscribing to the cap - otherwise the credibility of the entire series will be under threat. Initial signs, however, suggest that the manufacturer teams - and in particular Ferrari - are strongly opposed to any form of cost-restricting measures.
Unless the FIA is willing to negotiate with the constructors, Formula One runs the risk of becoming a two-tier sport, with different regulations applying depending on whether or not a team chooses to accept the cap. Moreover, the FIA is decidely vague on how it intends to maintain parity between the two categories, and thus ensure fair racing. The sport has only just undergone radical changes to its technical regulations, and to introduce this measure will only add to the confusion of fans worldwide.
As it stands, the budget capping proposal is a half-hearted measure. In the current economic climate, cutting costs is of course essential to the survival of F1. But the FIA needs either to take a firmer stance and make the budget cap compulsory as Frank Williams has suggested, or else come to an arrangement with the teams directly, if the sport is to retain its credibility.
Either that or call it Formule Libre!
ReplyDeleteAnother point here is what about switching during the season, are you locked in once you decide? Seems counter productive as those who opt to overspend may find themselves with a disadvantage initially, may find pressure to join the cap but cannot so for that season throw money at solutions and end up in advantage. So what will they do the next season? Probably assume spending even more will reduce the early season deficit so refuse the cap again!
The free testing also seems counter productive. As Flavio has said, testing is one expense which doesn't really give the fans anything, it usually takes place off season on far flung test tracks away from the public. Better to have restricted friday or thursday open sessions that the public can watch/view.
£40 million also seems like an arbitrary figure and to my mind a bit small and ridiculous, particularly at a time when a top flight footballer can be bought for that money-they expect a whole F1 team budget to go for that? I am not saying that £200 million plus is acceptable either but the FIA need to stop treating FOTA like an enemy. They need to accept the teams now want, sensibly so, a say in the direction and running of the sport and talk to FOTA and their experts about what is necessary and justifiable expenditure, which bits on the cars would be noticeable to fans and improve racing and any areas where some flexibility at a cost would allow different philosophies to race each other.
Gee, this is becoming a blog on its own right sorry but ok here goes:
For my mind stuff like gearbox, hydraulics, brakes etc should be standardised and mass produced by a one make supplier to keep costs down. Engines should be kept to a certain power limit of bhp but the teams can make their own engines and within the standard gearbox choose their own ratios to get the mos tout of the engine. Scrap KERS, its an interesting but expensive anomaly and does it really improve efficiency that much? Not convinced , maybe take up Richard Branson's fuel idea or include electric power options for travelling to and from the grid and when out the pit limiter coming into and out of pits to conserve fuel.
Wings and moveable aero keep. Allow different suspension, one of the interesting things this season is the fact Newey went to pullrod set up and those kind of visibly different design philosophies are precisely those to be encouraged. Would also suggest maybe having varying lengths of wings within predefined limits both rear and front specific and combined. I.e you can increase your front wing size up to xmm but you have to increase your rear wing size xmm. These are visible differences to the cars which allow differences in performance and therefore racing without going to a one make seres which would then have to be called GP1!