FI teams in breakaway threat

[VectraMan]

Now with massive debt to pay, CVC needed Ecclestone to go out there and make some serious money. New venues with state funding willing to pay top rate for a Grand Prix were given the nod by Ecclestone as the series began its drift away from its traditional heartlands of Europe and North America, to new venues in the Far East."

I think a lot of people probably think F1 has hired Silverstone for the weekend, but it's the other way around. A big part of the issue with Silverstone is that they have to pay an enormous amount to Bernie to host an F1 race, and despite the silly ticket prices they still operate at a loss each year. And Bernie then gives them a hard time about not spending money on the facilities.

But the money isn't the biggest issue here, it's more about Max Mosely thinking he can do whatever he wants as he is president of the FIA, and F1 belongs to the FIA. Except what is F1?

I think what the fans want to see is the historic teams like Ferrari, Mclaren and Williams employing the best drivers, and racing on the historic circuits like Silverstone, Monaco, Monza etc. And without the fans, there's no sponsors, no TV money, and Bernie and Max are left with nothing (well not Bernie because he still has his 2 billion).

[centurian]

I think a lot of people probably think F1 has hired Silverstone for the weekend, but it's the other way around. A big part of the issue with Silverstone is that they have to pay an enormous amount to Bernie to host an F1 race, and despite the silly ticket prices they still operate at a loss each year. And Bernie then gives them a hard time about not spending money on the facilities.

But the money isn't the biggest issue here, it's more about Max Mosely thinking he can do whatever he wants as he is president of the FIA, and F1 belongs to the FIA. Except what is F1?

I think what the fans want to see is the historic teams like Ferrari, Mclaren and Williams employing the best drivers, and racing on the historic circuits like Silverstone, Monaco, Monza etc. And without the fans, there's no sponsors, no TV money, and Bernie and Max are left with nothing (well not Bernie because he still has his 2 billion).

And that is part of the FIA's problem right now because they have arranged everything so that they don't actually do anything and just manage the brand. This means massve profits for virtually no risk. FOM made $447million last year from a turnover of $750 (about a 60% profit margin ). Track owners lose money, the teams lose money, but the FIA/BE simply can't lose.

Except when people start thinking, "well what is F1 anyway except a name". If they're not actually doing anything, we can set up another series. We have the cars, the drivers, the sponsors, the fans, the race promotors.

In that scenario, the biggest losers would be CVC, who would have ended up paying billions for a brand name that becomes worthless.

However, I still don't see it happening. I think there will be a compromise agreement made.