Liberty Media buy F1

[Publius Cornelius Scipio]

Should you care to read it, this was the case and judgement between the EU Comissions and the FIA:

EUR-Lex - 52001XC0613(01) - EN

FIA changed it's statutes, at the behest of the EU, so that it cannot have any commercial involvement in either F1 or the WRC. It only exists to make the rules, which does call in to question the influence FOM have on the rule making in F1.

Excellent, it's a very good legal basis for a "pure" F1: the FIA sets the rules and the dates for the races, the events organisers take care of the tracks and of organising the races and of coming up with some start/prize money, the tv rights are awareded to free to air channels only and the teams look after their finances without any input from the outside!

Thanks for the link, I'll read that as soon as I have a few spare minutes

 

[Il_leone]

Like any sport when one or two players or teams show their might financially , the governing body are powerless to do something and tend to back down

Football is a good example - The FA cannot do a thing about the premier league whilst the big teams in the premier league want even more of the TV

The champions league - UEFA had to change the format to group games to avoid a breakaway european league and they are still arguing over more Tv money

In Formula One , the FIA really don;t do much not since Jean Todt has been in charge, its the big teams that have had their say
and monopolised the sport . They all threaten to pull out if the FIA ever dared to change the rules or intervene

At this rate Formula E will take over F1 because simply everyone is fed up of the politics and the big teams receiving too much money and power to influence the sport

 

[F1Brits_90]

i worry this might be a rant. but what liberty need to do like sir alex did very well at man utd. nobody is bigger than the team, he got rid of huge names because of disagreement. Stam Beckham van nistlerooy & keane. they make the rules & tell the teams these are rules sign or theres the door. no team is bigger than sport. if there big teams leave so what. it wouldn't matter to me if i watched a grid of Force India's Williams Sauber Enstone & 8 others with a sustainable budget cap

because i am sick of the teams ruining the sport for their own self interest. The likes of McLaren (who like portsmouth think they are better than they are because they were decent 10yrs ago) Red Bull & Mercedes. im going to generously leave Ferrari out as they arent as bad. wouldn't be happy until its 2 cars running around because they pushed & pushed until its just them "i know this rule change, could make F1 grow & prosper. but we would lose our advantage" because we keep down this road F1 gets killed. what shouldve been the wake up call for the teams is last few yrs of F2. spell it out to them your getting embarrassed on fortnightly basis. the racing is so much better. F2 is on majority a 8 or 9 out of 10 F1 is mostly 5 or 6 but 8s rarely

but F1 big 3 spent 1 billion on 21 races. & F2 are rumoured to spend 20/25m for all 12 teams for a season

 

[Dartman]

F1Brits_90 that's all fine but under current engine rules there are no independent engine suppliers, will the manufacturers still supply engines and at what price if they leave F1?, Ferrari until recently never supplied engines to any team, when I say recently I mean the 21st century.

 

[Izumi]

There is an agreement, if I recall correctly, each engine supplier is mandated to supply power plants to other teams. I think there are Min/Max limits set forth in that directive, unfortunately I do not recall those numbers. Ferrari had no choice, but make more engines, not to say their power plant at one point was not that much in demand, as perhaps Mercedes engine was.

 

[Izumi]

Conversation continues whether F1 series should be sporting series, rather than all business, as is so often labeled. Isn't it however true that it became both the moment series came under umbrella as F1-series? Mr. Ecclestone surely didn't get involved merely for his altruistic reasons and love for the sport. From various articles circulating in public domain, he has done very well for himself, and so was CVC, and now Liberty. It is rather unfortunate that just recently pendulum swung towards one label more, because some teams are not performing well for one reason or other, and instead abandoning the club, they insist well off teams must feed them. Atrocious regulations (restrictivness in testing and development) of course do not helping to resolve the impasse.
It seems GrandPrix prior 1950 had slightly different flavor, and it was always a showcase for automobile companies before "garagiste" showed up. Many fans and in media I think yearning for revival of garagiste era (episode 2). Is it however realistic? I personally doubt it. World became for them too expensive, greedy and stupid for its own good. Garagiste would not survive, Liberty would not like it, and auto-companies will find something else to do.

 

[Angel]

When the sport became more about the money than the racing, that is when they started down the slippery slope to where we are now. Money ruins too many things, including all sports where it gets involved it seems to me.

Money is evil!

 

[Publius Cornelius Scipio]

Money is evil!

I don't think that money is evil in itself, a short term view often is, F1 opted to take a quick buck rather than investing for some long term gains, the problem is that now it's difficult to implement any radical change in direction because there are too many people with some vested interest. Maybe F1 will implode and will start again from scratch, the only problem is that it is becoming less relevant by the day, F1 can no longer attract young audiences or new fans, in a sense we (= F1 fans) are a dying breed

 

[Izumi]

After sun sets beyond horizon and for better viewing over dark cloud that set over the F1, Mr. Ecclestone got himself a pair of dark glasses; assured signs that he is in, and Liberty is out.

 

[Angel]

I don't think that money is evil in itself, a short term view often is, F1 opted to take a quick buck rather than investing for some long term gains, the problem is that now it's difficult to implement any radical change in direction because there are too many people with some vested interest. Maybe F1 will implode and will start again from scratch, the only problem is that it is becoming less relevant by the day, F1 can no longer attract young audiences or new fans, in a sense we (= F1 fans) are a dying breed

Like I said, when money became the most important thing, the sport suffered. Hence, money is the main problem in some ways

 

[Angel]

After sun sets beyond horizon and for better viewing over dark cloud that set over the F1, Mr. Ecclestone got himself a pair of dark glasses; assured signs that he is in, and Liberty is out.

Are you trying to give me nightmares Izumi? I know in horror films people return from the dead, but Bernie potentially coming back?

 

[Izumi]

Coterie of "old" fans in pain see our lovable past time dying, and there is nothing on horizon which would be even remotely likable. Tough crowd to please? Perhaps so, yet I just want little bit of this and that, and I shall be happy. Maybe most difficult for someone like me is creeping realization that we aren't wanted anymore. I am a European, I feel this is our sport, yet we were retired after decades being part of it without our consent, as new generation behind us knocking on the door with their own ideas and lives. New management, like some politicians of the day is governing by polls, cherrypicking from polling metadata of dubious value elements of convenience in lieu of sound judgement. Is F1 beyond "repair"? I am not sure. Sometimes a product has to be burn and demolished to the ground before it gets reborn in new form again. Immensely successful companies like Apple has done precisely that in their past.

 

[Izumi]

Formula 1 owners Liberty Media have under-estimated the task of running the sport and must be firm in setting out a vision for the future, according to Red Bull team chief Christian Horner.

After reading quite a few articles about Director Brawn, who is yielding this enormous power in Liberty and over F1, I thought he is in a position not to underestimate anything through his many years of association with sport (fishing excluded).

On the other hand, not reflecting anything on Brawn, it is never easy to please some people.

In general terms, how much influence Brawn really has? His private F1-empire he was building should have been in place by now.

 

[Dartman]

I wonder how big the howl would be if the rules said, "this is the engine regs and aero is a front and rear wing no wider than the car and of single plane, tyres, wheels and fuel are free but the car must be within the laid down maximum extremities and minimum weight", set to to cater for overweight ex Indy drivers

 

[Izumi]

Commercial rights holder together with FiA has mouth-fully declaring how they want to see more cars to have chance wining races, yet they have done precious little, if anything, to allow teams to catch competitively Mercedes-AMG ( and their drivers) in past four years, and then they wonder why people are turning away.
Why would anyone trust FiA again regarding next set of rules, when it is Liberty which is working on it? Design mistakes of 2014 required for F1 to adopt robust correction strategy (in scope and depth never seen before) due to complexity and time required, instead meaningless dancing around edges. It was clear in May 2014 what mess we were in. Today when I am reading about their "plans" (which are no specific plans), for some reason I feel like yawning for relaxation and some stress relieve.

 

[Izumi]

Articles (actually I know about two, thus plural) are begging to pop up describing Liberty's desire to sell, yet difficulty to find a buyer, and not lose money. Does anyone has any clue where this is heading? Liberty has denied rumors, but I have feeling that old "where is smoke there is fire" might be spot on.

 

[vintly]

No idea where it's heading, but if there's some truth to it and I suspect there is too, they won't be selling anytime soon. It's probably been spun as 'desire to sell F1' when it's actually just 'not going to plan', but no one in their right minds would pay top dollar for F1 now, and the price won't come down in a hurry. Don't watch this space.

 

[Izumi]

It was hilarious attempting to sell non-voting shares to teams. They really must be considering Europeans as low IQ people. Painful as it might be, every year with decreasing popularity of the sport and increasing desperation in management ranks, it might be more and more difficult to get rid of this DoDo bird.

 

[Il_leone]

Now Christian Horner decides to open his big mouth and says Liberty Media can;t simply take what happens in US motorsport to create open and even contests to F1

 

[Ruslan]

...Ken had to be physically restrained from strangling Bernie.

F1 would have been better off if they had not restrained him.