Skip navigation
 
May 22 2008

What price good racing?

A week or so after the sad, but perhaps predictable, demise of the Super Aguri team, Tony Purnell (the former Jaguar team principal, and now, as an FIA consultant, something of a guru to Max Mosley) has written to all the F1 teams, putting forward some cost-cutting figures as a…

You can read this in full if you log in, or you can register for FREE.

By Nigel Roebuck

Filed under: Exclusive content, Nigel Roebuck's newsletter

15 Responses to “What price good racing?”

  1. Tony Innes, May 23rd, 2008 at 11:07 am

    What Briatore says makes a lot of sense. But looking at Purnell's figures and what is NOT included makes me ask just what all that money is spent on.
    Tony

  2. Paddy, May 23rd, 2008 at 12:17 pm

    Flavio is speaking a lot of common sense which I did not expect from an " insider". Good thing to watch would be cars of the mid sixties style with all the safety construction of today with no gismos. Impossible dream!

    Paddy Willmer.

  3. patrick tacq, May 23rd, 2008 at 1:41 pm

    the price you pay when you let all these constructors in!!

  4. Anthony Kett, May 23rd, 2008 at 6:29 pm

    Is it not also the desire to impress and satisfy the sponsors who have come into motor sport since the era Paddy Willmer refers to, that brings the motorhomes, super-factories, etc.?

  5. Rich Ambroson, May 24th, 2008 at 12:35 am

    I'd rather see a budget cap on the PR Motorhomes and Impress-O-Towers rather than on the actual racecars.

    But Briatore makes some good points, I have to say.

  6. Claudio Navonne, May 24th, 2008 at 11:21 am

    I agree with Flavio Briatore`s words. He´s speaking very cleverly. If there’s no grip=good show.
    Claudio Navonne.

  7. Tony Trevethick, May 25th, 2008 at 8:34 pm

    Dead right and no more than common sense.
    So the figures proposed are too high…. that's no reason not to have a sensible discussion.
    If Honda really are spending so much how do they justify their appalling performances?
    Money alone won't improve the sport

  8. Mike, May 26th, 2008 at 9:12 am

    Gerhard Berger was recently quoted as saying that a competitive GP2 team can be run for about 3m pounds per season (all included), so why should an F1 team cost 100 times that amount? He has a good point.

    When I became interested in F1 most teams in it ran an F2 team as well, often using the F1 drivers!

    Colin Chapman took a low budget Lotus to Indy, creamed the opposition and taught the Yanks how to build proper race cars. He showed that cleverness, not sheer money can win races.

    If high budgets are what is making F1 boring as Mr. Briatore says, then I am all for a much lower budget cap. Dare I suggest 10 million pounds? Its still alot of money, in anybody's terms. Let the sponsors pay the driver's as much as they want to, but cap the budget for the cars and lets get back to thinking, Chapman style. Whilst they are at it, let's cap the size of the motor homes too.

    McLaren is my favourite team, because of the historical Kiwi connection, but who needs a mobile building at every European race?

  9. Iain, May 27th, 2008 at 8:42 am

    KERS facinates me, where will it end? The obvious would be the return of turbos - unthinkable!? It's the most efficient KERS device available; it delivers something for nothing (the turbos running on redirected exhaust fumes) could we see the return of 1300bhp beasties trotting around Monaco again?

  10. Chris Palmer, May 27th, 2008 at 3:59 pm

    I agree with Flavio Briatore 100%. Why can others in the paddock see what is happening with F1 today and think like him?

    Last weekend's Monaco GP was one of the best races I've seen in a long time and everyone was talking about how good it was the next day … Why? … Because it was wet and there was no grip!

  11. Dan Mihalascu, May 27th, 2008 at 7:29 pm

    Briatore is right, but I believe it's almost impossible to control the costs in F1. I'm just curious how cost-capping will be enforced by the FIA.

  12. Christopher June, May 28th, 2008 at 3:59 pm

    How about a new series of open wheel racing at tracks that Bernie and F1 are too good for: Spa, Silverstone, Magny Cours, Watkins Glen, Indy, Long Beach, Adelaide – no aero, few rules, and KEEP OUT THE EXCESSIVE BUDGETS.

  13. john fennell, May 28th, 2008 at 7:52 pm

    I agree about the cost reductions,don't think it will make F1 any more enjoyable,we need to return to the 50/60's type cars and make tracks wider for room to overtake.
    Why not return to the past and make cars even more simple with good class drivers.
    It would make it more of a "SHOW"

  14. Anthony Pilling, June 2nd, 2008 at 11:12 am

    Totally agree with Christopher June, but the FIA would probably veto it. One problem is that all the real money is in Arabia or Asia. Anyone any idea's.

  15. dave sherratt, June 12th, 2008 at 8:16 am

    The cars are so unattractive now, we need to get back to a basic model that looks fast. Something the man in the street (the one the sponsors are after) can drool over. Present day cars look ridiculous. Look at the ferrari built for indianapolis, it never ran but does’nt it look the business!

Leave a Reply