fast_freddy

Absolutely! I'm surprised they didn't do it sooner. I wonder how big Frankie Williams' check was to stick with Bernie and Max?

Perhaps the "glory days" of car development like in the early 80's will come back.

Larry Herman

I'm surprised that it took them this long to see that the tail was wagging the dog. A serious effort by FOTA will be the end of the Max & Bernie show.

Ed Hughes

Well, Peter Windsor's new team just got a chance at the F1 World Championship in 2010...

BC

I would suggest that the USF1 teem would joint FOTA.

multi21

The Bernie and Max show is going to be groveling on their hands and knees for the FOTA to reconsider. HAAAAAA, its the end of the "Let them eat cake" era. All Max and Bernie have left in F1 without these manufacturers is F2 and no one will watch it.

Here's to a new era

brendo

it stinks to pretty much agree with everybody.

i have nothing to add but i do feel bad for USF1. the one thing they need is stability

multi21

they will have stability because cosworth is the only engine supplier now. They will have as much chance of winning as anyone else. Spec series anyone?

brendo

^ i was thinking more along the lines of financial stability....but i agree. they'll be able to compete if they get the cash.

BrianKeithSmith

So I assume this means they'll run a completely different series, different dates, possibly same tracks at different dates, etc?

Any chance of Max/Bernie trying to shut them out of certain tracks?

ew928

Doesn't FOTA stand for FORMULA ONE Team Association?
So what do they call themselves now if the split with F1 is finalized.
Don't the dictator Bernie own the title Formula One.


Max and Bernie would make great villains in some movie. (Image popped into my head)

ltc

I would imagine that the financial people behind the teams in FOTA (and perhaps those at the manufacturers as well) have looked at this from the financial aspect.

They can perhaps make more money if they run the series themselves, even if they take the same cars/crews/equipment to the same tracks, just on different dates.

Whether it's called Formula One or anything else, I think it is a good move for FOTA. I believe that all the teams want is for Max to be gone and Bernie to be a bit more "generous" and this is perhaps the best vehicle for them to accomplish this task.
Apart from his tinkering in F1, if Max were gone tomorrow, who else in the FIA competition world would even notice?

500

This is very interesting and I am unsure how it will ultimately develop. I hope that the FIA makes enough of a concession to bring FOTA back into the fold and then forge ahead with one series. I am not sure how that will happen with Max in the mix though. I always “liked” Bernie more. He’s a harda**, but actually a pretty straight shooter. Max on the other hand seems more highly politicized. The ****-stripper thing also adds to the general feeling of mistrust and creepiness…

IF the series split, then there are certainly many potential concerns. I don’t know anything really about the types of contracts that the FIA has with TV providers, circuits etc and how these may impact FOTA’s ability to put on a series. Also, although I do believe there are real governance issues in the current system, an organization run by the teams has its own share of conflicts and potential agency costs. CART’s history probably has some good lessons.

The whole CART/IRL saga may have import here. When the IRL was created, it was a joke compared to CART at the time in terms of where the good teams and drivers were. All that IRL had was the 500 and I really thought IRL would wither and die. What happened was that the IRL remained pretty low grade (IMO) and CART… well they withered… Now we have one unified open wheel series in America and it is a shadow of the early 90’s CART. The quality of drivers is much lower. Yeah, there are a few pretty good ones (Dixon, Briscoe, Kanan, Castro-Neves etc.) but most of the field would not have had a hope of driving in the old CART. The cars are spec basically and really not that interesting from a fan point of view. I would hate to see the two “F1” series go the same way… i.e. the two versions struggle in their own way, become more marginalized in the public eye over a number of years, and then finally re-unite a much weaker series than today.

Although there are many who share some of the blame here, it seems to me that Max has the most. I am growing to really dislike that guy.

Larry Herman

Seems to me that FOTA has a lot more clout than either CART or the IRL ever did. I think that an ace in the hole are all of the tracks that have been slighted by the FIA including INDY, Montreal, Brands Hatch, Magny Cours, Estoril, Imola, San Marino, Sidney (Australia) and others that did hold GP races but are no longer on the calendar. I'm sure that for a more reasonable fee most would love to have top level Formula racing return to their tracks.

Ed Hughes

I'd suggest that to them as well, but I thought some of their startup was incentivised by Bernie.

I didn't see them listed in the teams making the jump, which could be because they aren't officially in FOTA until next year.

Giacomo

I think I might actually pay money for a FOTA ticket just because I know the money wouldn't be going to Max & Bernie.