Seeing Red

[teabagyokel]

Ferrari have threatened to leave F1 if Mad Max's engine & transmission deal goes through!

Ferrari warns it might leave F1

Toyota, according to the article, are also unhappy about the plan! I can imagine all of the manufacturer teams (except Honda) will want to show off how good their own engines are, or there is no point marketing cars in F1! Manufacturers don't do it for love!

Anyway, I can reveal who thinks that this is going to be a good idea!

 

[wittyc]

This was said at the FOM meeting in China, we all know they are unhappy about the proposal. However, it's good to see the manufacturers coming out publicly, all we need are the other manufacturers doing the same and hopefully they will stop all this nonsense about a single engine. It imho wouldn't be F1!

 

[Porceliamone]

I'm really happy that Ferrari have come out to say this. I'm also happy to see Toyota in some kind of support as well. Come on Mercedes, BMW and Renault...get your act together and let us know your thoughts too! I hope you say the same as these two manufacturers...NO to a standard/single engine manufacturer!

 

[Brogan]

With standard engines and transmission it will basically be A1GP by another name.

As all but Mosley (and FW) seem to be opposed to it, I would be very surprised if it went ahead.
If it does then as fans we can only hope that the teams leave and set up a rival series...

 

[Brogan]

It would seem the FIA have basically called Ferrari's bluff.

Ferrari respond to plans to standardise engines - FIA reply
“The FIA has noted the press statement issued by the Ferrari Board of Directors. It seems the Ferrari Board were misinformed. The FIA has offered the teams three options, one of which is the so-called standard engine, and another that the manufacturers should jointly guarantee to supply power trains to the independent teams for less than €5m per season."
...
“If neither happens, the FIA will take whatever measures prove necessary to preserve a credible world championship for both drivers and constructors.”

It will be interesting to see how this develops.

More here: http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2008/10/8595.html

 

[andrewj100]

It's the "The FIA has offered the teams three options" bit I don't get.
Publicly only 1 was headlined... was this the fault of the FIA? The fault of the journalists (no supprise there) or just a case of the FIA sensationalising it to get headlines and provoke a reaction.
I suspect it's the latter given the FIA's way of working of the past few years, they to tend to come up with something absolutely stupid before settling for much less. Is this really the way to run anything? It's as if they've employed estate agents rather than lawyers sometime!

 

[GooddayBruce]

It strikes me that, whilst F1 adopting a standard engine would be bad news for the constructors as a whole, it would be very good news for the one constructor who managed to secure the supply of said engines.

Most experts are theorising that this latest move from Max is asking for far more than he really wants or believes he can get in order to reach a compromise that is to his liking. Whilst this is typical of the man, could he not actually be testing the unity of FOTA? Can Max convince one of them to betray the others or will they stand together and co-operate?

Can someone remind me how FOTA came about. Am I imagining that Max called the teams to assemble it?

 

[gribbli]

All a charade if you ask me, especially with the magical secret other two options that the public isnt allowed to know about. Translated no doubt one of the other two options is whats best for Ferrari so them and the FIA put on a little panto to herd the other teams into an option that Ferrari and the FIA have, no doubt, already agreed upon. But maybe i'm just being cynical