Who is the World Heavyweight Boxing Champion at the moment? Do you have the slightest idea? Do you even know how many World Heavyweight Boxing Champions there are? And if, by some chance, you did know that there are three, do you really know anything about Vitali Klitschko, Nikolay Valuev and Samuel Peter? Or that the three share four titles between them? These hunks are hardly Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, George Foreman or Mike Tyson, are they? The man on the Clapham Omnibus is hardly going to say: “Who’d you think you are, mate? Vitali Klitschko?”
Boxing has one advantage over motor racing. It is a very simple sport. Two men beat each others’ brains out. Motor racing is more complicated. You might say that it is about drivers going round and round in circles very quickly, but it is a bit more complex than that, isn’t it? There are lots of different kinds of car. And who is to say that the term “World Champion” cannot be taken over by NASCAR? The Americans, after all, run the World Series, although to the best of my knowledge baseball teams from Estonia are not allowed to join in…
Why is F1 so arrogant as to think that its World Champion will be the only one. The FIA may claim the right to nominate World Champions, but from where does that right come? From the acceptance that the federation is the right organisation to run a World Championship? Is this a right to which no-one else has any claim? As I mentioned yesterday, why is the FIA of the opinion that it is the only organisation allowed to run World Championships? CART used to run its Indycar “World Series”. A1GP runs the World Cup of Motorsport.
When one boils the whole thing down, what gives the FIA the right to represent the world’s motorists? Tradition? Yes, perhaps, but if more than half the FIA membership were to go to a new federation, who would have the right then? There are many questions riding on the decision coming this week.
My feeling is that there can be no Formula 1 World Championship which does not include the Monaco GP and Scuderia Ferrari. These are the two things that give F1 its mystique and charisma. That glitz is what attracts so many of the sponsors. Without that gloss, F1 would be little different from any other championship. It would not be special. It might have the letters FIA stuck on the front, but that does not give it any more credibility than if those letters were RAC, or AAA instead.
A federation has to earn its status and if it backs the wrong horse then it damages that credibility.
Sports need to be very careful that they do not confuse people for too long. There is nothing wrong with a swift struggle that produces a better structure, but a fight that ends up with a half-assed solution is not the right answer. Competing championships are suicidal and everyone involved will suffer. The champions may be just as good as the great names of yesteryear, but their achievements will be diluted because there are multiple champions, some not as good as others.
And if you want evidence of how motor racing achievements can be devalued, you need look no further than Sebastien Bourdais, who won four Champ Car titles in the United States, but in F1 has had trouble his year keeping up with a rookie. Why? Because when he won his US titles, most of the best teams and drivers were racing in IRL and not in Champ Car, so Bourdais was made to look much better than he actually is…
I understand that the FIA may feel that its power is being questioned. But why is that? Would it be questioned if the way decision had been made in a different way? Is the beef of FOTA with the FIA or with Max Mosley?
The FIA has a choice tomorrow. That choice could do much damage.
joeblogsf1 
Boxing is a lot more technical than you make it seem, and boxers are generally top notch athletes like f1 drivers, that train just as hard if not more but for a different means. However, in boxing matchups arise where it would be like pitting an F1 car against a stock car on a road course where one is severely out classed. Vitali and Vladimir (brothers) both hold titles, but i see your point. Unified would be better for the sport since 5 major sanctioning bodies is annoying, and I agree with you there.
It appears that the ‘beef’ in F1 is with Max in my opinion. If the FOTA teams break away, I really do not see how the FIA championship would survive. The breakaway may not be as big immediately, but I feel that eventually it would be and the FIA championship would be no match.
Joe – What do you think the key problem is here and what do you do YOU think should happen to resolve it immediately?
http://www.ferrari.com/English/News/Pages/090623_F1_2010_survey.aspx
HI Joe, i thought you might like to try this on your site if you’re interested.
scunnyman
I was thinking about this and the politics in F1 is part of the show. Everyone complains about the politics but without it F1 would be GP2.
The technology and speed in F1 are vital, but it is only one link in the chain. The other link is the battles between the drivers and the authorities, the team bosses against each other and all the non-driver personalities. For me, I love the blink and you loose confrontational style.
Max Mosley is the perfect baddie, and Luca and Bernie are as famous as the top drivers. My girlfriend knows who the new McLaren boss is, but can never remember who drives car No. 2.
Lets all relax and enjoy this drama for what it is. Formula One.
P.S. If the championship closes up, wait to you see how old this controversy will seem.
I’d be astonished if the FIA showed some balls tomorrow and got rid of Mosley. The whole organisation has been carefully crafted by Mosley to protect his own authority. Its full of lackeys without the capacity for independent thought. They will do what they are told, its what they always do, its what they are appointed to do.
Mosley will get a resounding show of support and FOTA will be on their way. Absolute disaster
BTW today’s letter from Max calls them “dissidents”. Max thinks this is softer than calling them “rebels” and it is. However it is an ironic choice of words because only tyrannical regimes have dissidents as responsive governments allow participation.
JFK (probably via a speech writer) said: Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable. And this is why we are seeing a split. Happily this time the good guys win.
Expect Williams and Force India to be on the FOTA grid next year while they also “race” in the soon to utterly collapse FIA series with token cars and a budget of $500K dedicated to transporting old clunkers to the FIA venues.
Joe
Here’s a thought why not give the new teams – and they have to be new not “new” as in Force India or Brawn – a small advantage by either increasing their testing or rev limits for their first two seasons but keep the current restrictions for the existing teams without resorting to the budget caps? That way new entrants can show they can match it with the big boys and attract some sponsorship while still keeping the big boys in the game.
I reckon this would be a sufficient compromise and have this whole ruckus settled.
scunnyman, that’s not a survey… it’s a Yes, No, Don’t Know question, with nothing more to it than that. That’s hardly the way to elucidate what the intelligent F1 fans think.
Perhaps Ferrari are instead suggesting something about their opinion of English-speaking Ferrari fans? 😉
In the very olden days a “Formula 1” car was little more than a fenderless, single-seated “sports car” stripped down to the absolute essentials, the least of which was a silencer. The term “sports car” is really not much heard anymore. But it was applied to any legal road car with no more than two places (excepting maybe a bench in back for Rover) and an open cockpit (weather permitting). And it helped if it had at least moderate performance, but that was optional.
So there was a visceral connection between what a “fan” drove to the race and what was out there racing. Then that really began to go away, first with engines in the rear (which with a few notable and usually expensive exceptions has never caught on off the track) and then monocoque shells with bits attached at the corners and advertising all over the place, and then drivers you really couldn’t see anymore except on a television screen.
In way, I sort of like what Mosley seems to be wanting to do “for” the sport (as opposed to “to” it) — getting something of the connection back between what we drive and what we see in a glorified video game — by jamming down the costs. Unfortunately, he no longer has the personality, not to mention the credibility nor the authority, to get it done.
But with FOTA-whatever in charge I suspect the escalation of costs and exotically irrelevant technology — irrelevant off the track — will continue. The teams may talk about cost limitations, but that will be like clever little boys telling themselves they really mustn’t shoplift in a toy store.
Perhaps the ACCUS delegate to the FIA, Nick Craw, will have the guts and nous to terminate Max with extreme prejudice — he is an ex-Company man, after all…
I’ve been saying exactly the same as you Joe, about Seb bourdais, and if F1 becomes a devalued series then you’ll get the same situation with Williams.
Though i do feel frank Williams will eventually backtrack and decide to Join FOTA again if they are allowed to leave F1.
Even though its “only” tradition, tradition counts for a lot. It is priceless in terms of branding and image. Companies pay fortunes to be associated with 50-100 year old tradition because it cannot be manufactured over night no matter how much money you are willing to spend. It is scarce and thus valuable.
That is why Monaco is so important to F1. Tradition. Ferrari is also important for that reason, however Monaco the track is more important.
Toyota would love to say they “won the Monaco Grand Prix “regardless of who they actually raced. Because the average Joe who does not follow it closely like us , only see the headline briefly in their busy lives “Toyota wins Monaco Grand Prix”
This is why I am surprised Toyota is risking their massive investment which is nearly about to pay off.
they will associate that with “being the best at motor sport”
Wimbleton, British Open etc are much more important to win than the Abu Dubia Open for example. Or Indianapolis which is a global brand and more important than the actual cars , etc… that race there.
Dear Joe,
Great writing, thanks. Nevertheless I think it might be strategically better to talk about the FIA’s governance that is basically the core problem. Why and to what extent Mosley’s name personifies this heavily critisized governance is to be sorted out by the FIA – if they care at all.
Then I was about to ask you whether it is possible that FIA has some sort of regular income from F1 which is not publicly known. Then I thought it is probably not the case and I take the 100M$ fine on McLaren as an indicator. According to the FIA’s web site their share (!?) of this fine is 60M$ and it shall be spent on educational and development programme managed by a special fund over a five years period. Mozambique and Lebanon are mentioned among the first beneficiaries. According to MM there are some 120 countries in the FIA and if one does the math there will be 0,5M$ on average available to each of them. Little for countries like US, Germany, U.K., but probably a lot to many others. Come election time these millions might be of some help, I guess. What comes next, when the McLaren money dries out?
I am a little confused here
You say that the FIA is claiming the title of ‘World Champion’ – but surely they mean world champion of F1 don’t they?
There are as in boxing many different formula as i’m sure you are only to aware – as there are weights – and series in boxing
The same goes for athletics – cycling – weightlifting – swimming – tennis – well you get my drift
All these people who compete in the different series are the world champions in their own right as anyone has the opportunity – if not the skill and resources to join any of these series don’t they?
As for F1 has to have Ferrari and Monaco – not really with you on that one either
Ferrari are now trying to wrestle (where there are several world championships as well!) all control of F1 – don’t be clouded by FOTA – this is a concerted effort by Ferrari to have overall control
As for Monaco – I love the race – I love the atmosphere and the whole idea of the glitz and glamour
But should a sport where the ordinary man woman and child revel in watching their heroes be dictated by one race where he could never afford to be present
I don’t think so
Monaco should go on – but how’s about putting the whole event in the same bracket as the Mille Miglia – a special event for all racing teams with enough money to not even care if I was actually going to watch it or not?
Come to think of it, should the split really happen will FOTA be allowed to call itself FOTA (FORMULA ONE Teams’ Association) any longer or will Max try to wrangle the title off them in court?
“I was thinking about this and the politics in F1 is part of the show. Everyone complains about the politics but without it F1 would be GP2.
The technology and speed in F1 are vital, but it is only one link in the chain.”
Yes, good answer I think.
There are Ferrari’s in LMGT2 and the Renault World Series has a race at Monaco, but that does not mean those series or races or categories are especially memorable. They still lack a certain something that Formula 1 has.
Formula 1 is, as Mr. Saward points out, a complicated beast. If the FIA series and FOTA series diverge I don’t doubt I will be able to see elements of what “Formula 1” is to me in both of them, for different reasons.
And maybe that’s why the current situation is as it is. There are many different possible ways to go, but one series cannot do them all without compromising on them all too much.
A split may not be a good thing in the long-run but I suspect in the short-term if it does happen you may see enough to see that both were right, in a wierd way.
Just wondering Joe – am I doing something wrong as none of my posts seem to make it online?
Steve
The trouble is Joe – while I agree that the presence of Ferrari does give the FIA championship a great deal of credit – if they really are an integral part of the series, then how far do you go to pander to their wishes?
How do you have a level playing field if one competitor is bigger than the series?
Still, in space of 4 days, whe have had F1 back, Silverstone back and the end of Max. Happy days!
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