Formula Elaborate Bluff: Part II

[whatisdeletrazdoing]

http://www.grandprix.com/ns/ns23204.html

Discuss.

[dr-baker]

And in case anyone prefers a different website, it's also on Autosport.

Don't know what I think yet.

[DOSBoot]

While I agree with some of his comments, after the CART-IRL war, I don't want to see another breakaway series.

[karsten]

the usual matter. when ferrari isn't winning 90% of the races montezemolo starts crying and saying they'll make their own championship.

it happens 2-3 times per year and he never does anything

[DOSBoot]

^ Hence when I meant most.

[patrick]

I think I, like most sane fans and members of the F1 circus will quietly call his bluff. If they really wanted to breakaway he wouldn't be the only person constantly saying it.
I have no objection to Luca himself breaking away from Formula 1 though!

[mario]

I think I, like most sane fans and members of the F1 circus will quietly call his bluff. If they really wanted to breakaway he wouldn't be the only person constantly saying it.
I have no objection to Luca himself breaking away from Formula 1 though!

Yes, it'd be quite easy to call Ferrari's bluff I feel - after all, the FIA and FOM have most of the top tier motorsport circuits tied into their contracts, so a breakaway series would always have the issue of whether they could find appropriate venues for their races.

Besides, I can see the sponsors baulking at the idea, since their brand image and advertising model is centred around Formula 1 as it stands, not a breakaway series with no history or image beyond a plaything for manufacturers. At the moment, most of the teams depend very heavily on external sponsors - over half of Ferrari's turnover comes from external sponsorship - so I can't see any of them wanting to jeopardise that revenue.
At the very least, if Luca really did want to make his threats more credible, he'd do what Enzo Ferrari did and order his engineers to come up with a racing car for a rival series to make his threats look serious (the Ferrari 637 was no rough test hack - Steve Horne, the designer, spent over a year perfecting the car, and the test data, including track testing, showed that the car probably would have been pretty competitive http://oilpressure.wordpress.com/2009/0 ... rrari-637/ ).

Overall, though, I can't see a breakaway happening - this looks merely like opportunistic headline grabbing by Luca at a time when Bernie has to split his attention between the demands of FOTA over the new Concorde Agreement and the threat from the Murdoch-Exor consortium.

[noisebox]

I think there's more chance of this happening than ever before. What we're seeing now are the first moves in the post Bernie power struggle. I suspect that Bernie will retire at the end of 2012, which is why bidders are now sniffing around. The two things the teams will want out of this is more control and obviously more money, and news corp wont provide them with either. If they thought Bernie was ruthless then Murdoch will take it to another level!

As such, there will be an interesting quandry - any bidder needs the teams for F1 to be what it is now, and the teams will be pushing like mad for better terms.

[Collieafc]

Just a bluff. Probably trying to "test the water" in order to see what the teams can extract from the next Concorde agreement in their favour

[DanielPT]

Just a bluff. Probably trying to "test the water" in order to see what the teams can extract from the next Concorde agreement in their favour

Seconded. Every time some says Concorde Agreement there comes a certain Ferrari boss whining about the state of F1 (except if his team is wining) and that he will form a break-away series. It is clearly tiresome. and as Collieafc said, it is his tactic in trying to extract more for the teams, specially his team (like having points saying that Ferrari is the most important thing in F1) ...

[MaxZero]

Helmut Marko has come out saying that the threat isn't serious, stating that the reason Ferrari have been so vocal about it is because their Italian

Reading the Helmet's comments usually annoy me tho this one is more agreeable than usual

[Ferrim]

I think there's more chance of this happening than ever before. What we're seeing now are the first moves in the post Bernie power struggle. I suspect that Bernie will retire at the end of 2012, which is why bidders are now sniffing around.

There are only two things that could bring Bernie to retirement: ill health and death.

The way things stand, I'm pretty convinced that it will be the second one.

(Mmm... but is really Bernie a mortal...?)

[Phoenix]

Lies, damn lies. They're not going to do anything, as usual. Poor Luca has zilch credibility.

[Myrvold]

There are only two things that could bring Bernie to retirement: ill health and death.

The way things stand, I'm pretty convinced that it will be the second one.

The man er 80 years old. I think with the amount of work he is doing. He will die, because of ill health. It will be quick, but ugly.

[jackanderton]

I don't like people who are this conceited. Go home, Luca.