Nearly wrote something on Formula One yesterday after the events at the Hungarian Grand Prix but pleased I waited with BMW's announcement that they were pulling out of the sport this morning.
The season started with the promise of being the closest for years with potentially every team in with a chance of having success, but having just crossed the half-way point of the season it looks like the changes have not turned out in the way that was envisaged. I say this because the two teams that dominated the start of the season - Brawn and Red Bull - seem to have been caught by the two big boys of the grid, McLaren and Ferrari. These latter two teams started this season at a disadvantage as they had to fight to the wire last season to secure the Drivers and Constructors Championship whereas many of the other teams had focused on developing this season's car from early last year, based on the knowledge that the regulations were going to be very different this year.
However, less than six months into the season the two teams with perhaps the largest budgets have been able to catch-up and allied perhaps to the strongest driver line-ups have taken advantage. They are also the only two teams to have persevered with the controversial KERS systems which means they have a better chance of overtaking other cars on the track. My concern is that other than KERS all the other regulations brought in improve the ability for cars to overtake have been negated by some very clever designers and aerodynamicists.
Next year the regulations are going to be broadly similar to those we have now other than the banning of refuelling and a strong likelihood that KERS will not be available. This means that with Ferrari and McLaren now back at the front of the grid it means they will probably still be there again next season. It would easy to be see while the bosses at BMW decided that enough was enough and pulled the plug on their dalliance with F1 and also why Toyota and Renault may do the same because as well as the cost of operating a team I imagine the marketeers aren't too happy to see their brand trailing around in the middle, or worse, back of the pack.
Two people who no doubt have a wry smile on their face are Bernie Ecclestone and Max Mosley as it has been these same big car manufacturers that have threatened the hold on power they have built up over the last 30 years in the sport. With the three new entrants next year to the Grid (Manor Motorsport, Campos Racing and US GP) it looks like the power could be shifting back to the independent teams - and this would be further enhanced if BMW were to be bought as well.
So what next for the sport? It is too late to change much for next season in terms of rules but the names of the teams will be different. Budget capping won't work and has been ruled out whilst having "standard" cars or engines would detract from one of the main strengths of F1. Personally, I think that the administrators need to look at why other series work like Indycar in the US. There does tend to be more overtaking, and not just on the oval circuits but also the road circuits. The technology may be less sophisticated and it is does become difficult to "uninvent" many of the features of F1 cars but other aspects need to be looked at. An example from Indycar is that cars being approached to be lapped do not have to give way and this can lead to cars becoming bunched up behind a lapped car creating overtaking opportunities.
Whatever is done, safety cannot be compromised whilst keeping in mind that racing at speeds up to 200mph will always have some danger. It is easy to make knee-jerk reactions such as those after the Hungarian Grand Prix with Renault being suspended because Alsono's wheel was not properly attached. Yes, it was dangerous especially following the incidents at Brands Hatch and in qualifying for Sunday's race but would the same punishment have been meted out if neither of these incidents had happened - I doubt it. F1 and all motorsport have become incredibly safe over the last 25 years but accidents and mistakes do happen, and as long as lessons are learnt then that should be the main criteria. Banning Renault, and by default their former World Champion Alonso from the race in Valencia in my eyes move the team one step closer to withdrawing from the sport altogether.
Personally, I think the move back to independent as opposed to manufacturer teams will be good for the sport and take it back to its heyday for a couple of reasons. Firstly, the manufacturers are big companies with shareholders and as such have to take commercial decisions that will provide the best return for their stakeholders and to facilitate this within the sport it means that they have put undue pressure on those that run the sport - it should not be the teams dictating the rules. Secondly, the two teams that have been most successful this season to date are Brawn and Red Bull, both independent yet both were manufacturer teams (Honda and Ford) yet both had highly intelligent engineers who interpreted the new rules better than the other teams. F1 is all about innovation and this is more likely to flourish at "smaller" independent teams meaning there could be different teams coming to the front of the grid at different times.
Sports teams have historically been a rich mans plaything and that should continue, they should not be corporate marketing machines. There is a role for corporations as there has been in F1 since the sixties and that is sponsoring the teams (pretty much as happens in football now). The teams that can be successful will be the ones to find the next Colin Chapman, Patrick Head or Adrian Newey and when they have found one of them then the marketing team can go and get the best sponsors who will pump further money into the team. This model worked for a long time and I don't see it ever really broke so returning to it would be in the best interests of a sport that I like millions of others love following.
Finally, I'd like to say that I think this year's championship is turning out to be great, despite the politics, and I for one wouldn't want to try and predict the winner of either championship - though I think maybe McLaren and Ferrari have left it a couple of races too late to be challenging.
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