FIA / GPMA - F1 from 2008 (FIA and GPMA in agreement!)

[Julian Mayo]

rah and julian, I didn't say I have a problem with a single tyre supplier. I said it is more exciting to have more than one

I do not concur, on the grounds that it masks the ability of drivers on differing rubber. Indy was not very exciting

[Ed]

The FIA weren't satisfied with the outcome of the meeting with team representatives on August 31st.

The FIA will be publishing the 2008 F1 Regulations shortly. They are hoping that the new regulations will reduce a Formula 1 team budget from around $360 Million to $120 Million.

The FIA believe that with such a significant reduction in cost, more teams will enter the sport (they are targeting 12 teams in 2008), provide closer racing and make the sport more popular than ever!

The FIA also indicated that if the manufacturers wished to run their own private series with unlimited budgets, they would be happy to assist them. However the FIA believes such a formula would be too risky for Formula One.

Full FIA Statement

[JayVee]

rah and julian, I didn't say I have a problem with a single tyre supplier. I said it is more exciting to have more than one

I do not concur, on the grounds that it masks the ability of drivers on differing rubber. Indy was not very exciting

Are you just disagreeing for the sake of disagreeing ?

Lets see ..... the same can be said about different engines and different chassis masking the ability of drivers

If you want a pure comparison of drivers then there is Formula Ford I suppose

Yes Indy wasn't exciting at all so ? One stuff up in many many years, so ? Address it and move on

[Julian Mayo]

rah and julian, I didn't say I have a problem with a single tyre supplier. I said it is more exciting to have more than one

I do not concur, on the grounds that it masks the ability of drivers on differing rubber. Indy was not very exciting

Are you just disagreeing for the sake of disagreeing ?

Lets see ..... the same can be said about different engines and different chassis masking the ability of drivers

If you want a pure comparison of drivers then there is Formula Ford I suppose

Yes Indy wasn't exciting at all so ? One stuff up in many many years, so ? Address it and move on

No, I am disagreeing because, in my opinion you are wrong.

[JayVee]

I do not concur, on the grounds that it masks the ability of drivers on differing rubber. Indy was not very exciting

Are you just disagreeing for the sake of disagreeing ?

Lets see ..... the same can be said about different engines and different chassis masking the ability of drivers

If you want a pure comparison of drivers then there is Formula Ford I suppose

Yes Indy wasn't exciting at all so ? One stuff up in many many years, so ? Address it and move on

No, I am disagreeing because, in my opinion you are wrong.

You're avoiding the question

If different tyres mask the ability of drivers then so does different engines and different chassis.

[Julian Mayo]

Are you just disagreeing for the sake of disagreeing ?

Lets see ..... the same can be said about different engines and different chassis masking the ability of drivers

If you want a pure comparison of drivers then there is Formula Ford I suppose

Yes Indy wasn't exciting at all so ? One stuff up in many many years, so ? Address it and move on

No, I am disagreeing because, in my opinion you are wrong.

You're avoiding the question

If different tyres mask the ability of drivers then so does different engines and different chassis.

Sigh, surely it is obvious to one of your sensibilities, that by eliminating a major difference between teams, the prospect of closer racing will be enhanced. Would you find it within youself to disagree to the point I make that Ferrari, and Michael Schumaker would have been more competitive, and possibly challenged for the title if they had been on michelin tyres this season

[JayVee]

Sigh, surely it is obvious to one of your sensibilities, that by eliminating a major difference between teams, the prospect of closer racing will be enhanced. Would you find it within youself to disagree to the point I make that Ferrari, and Michael Schumaker would have been more competitive, and possibly challenged for the title if they had been on michelin tyres this season

No there were times when there was only 1 supplier and one team dominated.
If you use that logic you would also need to eliminate diffferent engines and different chassis but then you don't have Formula 1
And we go round and round

[Julian Mayo]

If you revert to your original statement, look at that which I have posted in a rational manner, and give it fair appraisal, I am confident that you will concur

[JayVee]

If you revert to your original statement, look at that which I have posted in a rational manner, and give it fair appraisal, I am confident that you will concur

No, I know what I said. A Formula 1 team is a whole package. It is exciting to have more than an engine supplier, it is exciting to have more than a chassis supplier and it is exciting to have more than a tyre supplier.

You said you don't have a problem with a single supplier and neither did I. I just said to me it was more exciting

It is true some are saying that Ferrari aren't competitive because they are on the wrong tyre but hello last year all the non Ferrari drivers weren't competitive because there were in the wrong car

[rah]

If you revert to your original statement, look at that which I have posted in a rational manner, and give it fair appraisal, I am confident that you will concur

No, I know what I said. A Formula 1 team is a whole package. It is exciting to have more than an engine supplier, it is exciting to have more than a chassis supplier and it is exciting to have more than a tyre supplier.

You said you don't have a problem with a single supplier and neither did I. I just said to me it was more exciting

It is true some are saying that Ferrari aren't competitive because they are on the wrong tyre but hello last year all the non Ferrari drivers weren't competitive because there were in the wrong car

no no no, they were in the right car, it just wasn't quick enough. They would have to be pretty silly to get in the wrong car, they are even different colours.

[GhoGho]

The ?new evidence? is once more showing how this USGP farce were the fault of Michelin and no one else. Mosly, the stewards and the FIA could not do other than insist that the rules and regulations were followed. Your contention that they could have had a race with all cars, is dependent on the track being reconfigured. That is patently against the rules, which is why it was never going to happen.

I don?t care what 1, 2 or 200 drivers think or support. The rules and regulations that the F1 championships are being fought for under, are the same rules for all. And no matter how much or little you, I and x number of drivers think of them, they can not be changed in the middle of a race, based on a tire manufacturer messing up in building a race tire.

There is no being correct by being in the majority, that is only being in the majority nothing else.

[GhoGho]

OK so red bull have signed the agreement. is that for both red bull teams?
will they be running different chassis? will they be running different engines?

for a sport where everyone wants to cut costs seems like red bull just jumped in for a whole lot more expense.

[Julian Mayo]

If you revert to your original statement, look at that which I have posted in a rational manner, and give it fair appraisal, I am confident that you will concur

No, I know what I said. A Formula 1 team is a whole package. It is exciting to have more than an engine supplier, it is exciting to have more than a chassis supplier and it is exciting to have more than a tyre supplier.

You said you don't have a problem with a single supplier and neither did I. I just said to me it was more exciting

It is true some are saying that Ferrari aren't competitive because they are on the wrong tyre but hello last year all the non Ferrari drivers weren't competitive because there were in the wrong car

no no no, they were in the right car, it just wasn't quick enough. They would have to be pretty silly to get in the wrong car, they are even different colours.

Q/. why did NSW police switch from a single blue centre light on vehicles to the red n blues?
A/. So highway patrol cops knew which side to get back in.

[Jim Watt]

Terrific fun to follow this thread, especially with Julian and Jay Vee playing ping pong

But the serious problem underlying all this desire on the part of fans to "justify" the records of their favorite drivers by claiming "unfair" conditions, whether those conditions be attributed to Ferarri's "unfair" and "unsporting" expenditures of funds and testing times on their private facility, or the inherent unfairness of one driver or team or another being forced to compete "unequally" because they have differing tyre suppliers, or differing sums of monies to spend...the serious problem, as I say underlying all this, is that the FIA as currently administered obviously "plays favorites" and looks to its own bottom line rather than working with the teams and drivers to bring the fans the best racing possible. Indy is a logical outcome of this sort of nonsense and legal brief snatching. So is the Jenson Button saga.

What I mean is that if FIA were really concerned to bring us the best racing possible they would treat tyres, chassis's, engines, bodies, drivers and teams all the same: there would be simple rules easy to measureme and there would be enforcement. The enforcers would not be friendly with any of the competitors nor would they care how much money anyone spent on anything. We don't need another layer of legality, a review committee to look into whether or not it is "sporting" or "fair" for a driver to switch seats whenever he (or she) is willing to pay for it. Jenson should be able to drive for any team that's willing to put him in a seat and pay him for his services. If that means another team is left without his services and has a contract --let them get a process server and sue him; that's what lawyers are [good?] for. And when Kimi decides, if he decides to go to Maranello, don't you think Ron Dennis will make a little trip to the bank? Of course. And will he be crying about how unfair it is? No way. Look at the idiots at Toyota; should we intervene because they're spending 25M$ for little brother?

In fact, one of the most interesting aspects of F1, aside from the now and again good race (like Spa this year) is the way the best drivers somehow end up driving the best cars; not every season and not in the interest of fairness and, in the end not even in the pursuit of money, but because it's easier to win races in better cars with better teams. It isn't impossible to win in weaker cars and with weaker teams, but when that's the case a better driver is your only hope.

We don't need FIA to try to put a cap on expenditures and we don't need them meddling with the rules to improve television revenues and we certainly don't need them to be working against drivers and teams!

We need them to work to insure the rules are clear and fairly enforced and that the courses are as safe as possible AND THEN, LIKE THE SAFETY CAR WE NEED THEM OUT OF THE WAY!!

In the best F1 universe more people would know the name of the nearest magistrate more readily than that of the director of FIA or FOM. What both these blokes have to get through their thick skulls is that I don't know who directed motorsports when Fangio and Moss and Hawthorne and Gurney and Clark and Jackie Stewart were driving and winning.

And you know what? I don't care.

I guess this means I don't care if there is one tyre supplier or ten or if there are ten teams or thirty or if Red Bull races two cars or four cars or eight cars.

And I don't care if there are two series (as we have in America) or four series or eight series --and I don't care how much money any idiot wants to spend trying to buy the championship.

I think the best drivers always find their way, as I said before, into the best seats and a lot of the fun is watching them make their way from Minardi to Ferarri or from Jordan to MacLaren.

So let's go racing; it's still not clear who will have the most wins by the end of the year even if it is pretty obvious who will be WDC!

And hasn't this been a better year for everyone but Ferarri? Really? Even Jaguar (oops I mean Red Bull) and Jordan have to be feeling better; even Peter Sauber has to be feeling good about his showing v. the factory team! About the only person chewing the rug is Sir Frank Williams --and even he can take heart from the example of Ron Dennis (last year wasn't a banner on for the Macs!)

As to Ross B.? Well there's always next year, tho' I think the long red reign is definitely over.

Sorry for the rant, friends, but I'm feeling (as a Kimi supporter) pretty down in the dumps these days. But, like Kimi says, "That's racing."

Cheers and I'm picking Kimi to win the next three races even if he has to push the damn thing across the line!

Jim Watt

[Julian Mayo]

As always Jim, a good read. Glad to be of entertainment value, th' I do prefer to think of it as "table-tennis"