Ferrari Threaten F1 Exit in Light of New Liberty Media Plans

[Eckhart von Glan]

agree peppepino.
formula one is all about building the best car. the driver, i'm afraid is not as important as, for example, in NASCAR or INDYcar. If someone tries to take away this aspect, technology being more important than talent, they will kill f1 as we have known it for years and years. all the brands who have been at the top have been there because of outstanding technology plus a good driver, the best example being lotus in the 60s and 70s. remember all the great drivers suffering in a car which was not up to scratch (fittipaldi? andretti? alonso?) this is the appeal of formula one and ferrari (and mercedes and renault) are quite right to point this out to the new kids on the block.

 

[wombat999]

WHy so many haters of ferrari brand? i assume that is an english speaking forum, so you could get in every inches of hate caused by being beaten in every records.
Calm down guys. See the picture of data. F1 is Ferrari. Most winning, most pole, most championship, most start. Pretty much "most of everything". F1 could not afford to lose Ferrari. Your hate is here to show that

My lovely wife has an Italian mother and a French father......and usually the Italian genes dominate.
Frankly I doubt the real aficionados 'hate' Ferrari, more we detest what the Scuderia has become under FIAT.
IIRC the first FIAT investment the late 1960s totaled about 40%, eventually the FIAT group brought it up to 90%, several years after the death of the Master.
I guess that is likely to be 100% today.

 

[Patrick van der Meulen]

I have watched the BBC documentary about Williams this morning on Netflix. I think the passion which went into F1 by Enzo Ferrari himself was equal to that of Frank Williams. Those were the days. But nowadays Ferrari is just corporate as ****. Tbh I couldn’t care less if the top 3 brands would left F1. Would rather prefer a field full of teams like Williams, Force India, Manor, Jordan, Minardi. Lower budgets, way less influence by carmanufacturers, more standardized and equal engines, and most of all totally raceminded teamowners. I’m afraid it won’t happen with Liberty Global...

Liberty may well end up turning F1 into Cart, almost killing it and then selling it back to the Eccelstone's for a quarter of what they paid

With Bernie Ecclestones age I highly doubt it... Even if Liberty Global does kill it off as quickly as possible...

WHy so many haters of ferrari brand? i assume that is an english speaking forum, so you could get in every inches of hate caused by being beaten in every records.
Calm down guys. See the picture of data. F1 is Ferrari. Most winning, most pole, most championship, most start. Pretty much "most of everything". F1 could not afford to lose Ferrari. Your hate is here to show that

I think it isn’t so much hate for the brand Ferrari, but for Ferrari’s attitude towards F1. Crying like a baby when their exclusive position is threatened to be taken away. As far as my knowledge goes, it’s a situation created by Ecclestone. The grandfather with his darling grandchild which always get 10 bucks more in contrast to his other grandchilds.

 

[Wolf_XII]

I doubt they will ever go but if they do I wouldn't mind seeing a Ferrari or two entered in LMP1. Then again, given their reliability issues in F1 this year maybe endurance racing wouldn't be their forte.

Their GTE and GT3 racers seem to do just fine.

As for LMP1, yeah I would like to have Ferrari in there, to save what is an interesting car Class, far more interesting than F1 Cars imho.

I mean the racing this F1 season was better than in the years before, and the Mercs actually had competition this time, but the F1 cars aren't that interesting anymore atleast when you compare it to LMP1.
Ferrari could maybe even run a V12 there with Hybrid.

And I'm not too sure about the MGU-H being removed in F1, as a system like MGU-H has been a tactical advantage for Porsche in the WEC.

However the idea of storing the energy is interesting, imagine saving up under safety car, and then having energy for some absolute fliers afterwards.

And I like watching the WEC and endurance racing a lot more, given that there is more action and more drama there than in F1.

And especially in GT racing it's a good show close racing with chances for all and awesome finishes, just look at the Battle for Class Victory in GTE Pro at this year's 24h of Le Mans.
24h hours and the winning pass is in the last corner of the penultimate lap!

I've recently been watching the Season reviews of the nineties and early noughties (2000's) again and even though Ferrari dominated at some parts, they always had competition, and even the midfield runners did compete for the podium at some times.
Now it's mostly Mercedes+Ferrari and maybe a Redbull on the podium, unless something unforseen happens.

I was also looking at the 2004 season, and despite Ferrari dominance, mostly on reliability grounds, there was something I really liked, the one-shot (one lap) qualifying over two days.
Why?
Well, it did really mix up the field, Alonso for example started a few races from the rear, because he messed up his lap.

With the system as it is now, they can usually hammer out enough laps until they are good enough.
Getting that one-shot qualifying back, would add some unpredictability.

I would agree on the engines though, one of the things that Bug me about the DTM is that these cars have nothing to do with the base models, the Chassis is spec, the electronics are spec and the engine is spec.
A Ferrari should have a Ferrari Engine, same as a merc should have a Merc Engine, it's part of what makes GT racing for example exciting, that every manufacturer has their own engine.....and that they vary in type.

I would just love to see the data that shows that Formula E is getting more popular, I have hear claims like that but never see data going with it.

And the question is also if it gets more popular with the motorsport fans, those that are here to stay, or if it's just another "trend sport" another fad, for the hipsters that will fade once something else is hip.

 

[Rob]

Its not a proper ferrari threat until they build an indycar

Okay big points for this. Lol. But that's the road course car (rear wing) at the brickyard.

 

[Kasti]

They should leave "Formula Hybrid+Boredom"- as we all should do.
The tech rules are causing this high tech desaster. How should this be the pinnacle of motorsports with regulations that only allow one motor concept (V6 Turbo) and allows aero causing these awful boring races with "who wins the start will win the race".

GT races are much more exiciting and then simply compare F1 to Moto GP which is "Moto max race action"

MotoGP has everything good motorsport needs, different concepts and bikes able to win, awesome sound, unpredictable result till the chequered flag drops,half a dozen drivers able to becomes wc and race action at it´s best.

 

[Warren Dawes]

MotoGP has everything good motorsport needs, different concepts and bikes able to win, awesome sound, unpredictable result till the chequered flag drops,half a dozen drivers able to becomes wc and race action at it´s best.

So does the BTCC, and the Aussie V8 Supercars.
The only motorsport I watch these days.

 

[Terminus Est]

I'm not sure how V8 Supercars has "different concepts and vehicles able to win" since there are only two vehicles and they are extremely similar. What are they going to do with V8 Supercars now that the Falcon and Commodore are dead? Just turn it into another touring car series, maybe with slightly bigger cars? V6 Used-to-be-super-but-now-just-kind-of-averagecars?

 

[wombat999]

I'm not sure how V8 Supercars has "different concepts and vehicles able to win" since there are only two vehicles and they are extremely similar. What are they going to do with V8 Supercars now that the Falcon and Commodore are dead? Just turn it into another touring car series, maybe with slightly bigger cars? V6 Used-to-be-super-but-now-just-kind-of-averagecars?

Maybe you need to read the new regulations before making a rash statement.
While it is not quite clear who will run what the closest comparison that I can make to previous series would be to one of the silhouette categories.
Whatever, GM, Ford, Nissan and maybe Toyota have possible vehicles available, at least the series will not be as boring as the multiple dodge-em car 'Championships', the ridiculous DTM series, or the NASCAR Redneck Racing circus.

 

[Kjell Eilertsen]

WHy so many haters of ferrari brand? i assume that is an english speaking forum, so you could get in every inches of hate caused by being beaten in every records.
Calm down guys. See the picture of data. F1 is Ferrari. Most winning, most pole, most championship, most start. Pretty much "most of everything". F1 could not afford to lose Ferrari. Your hate is here to show that

Because the reason they have "most of everything" is due to them having been favourably treated by the FIA for decades.
Biggest share paid to teams go to Ferrari, no matter how poorly they perform.
The only team on the grid to have veto on rules and regulations.
I hate them not so much because they are Ferrari, but because in a sport where I expect everyone to be playing by the same rules, they are not.
How they behave just adds fuel to my fire, throwing public tantrums and threatening with taking their toys and going home because they don't get their way.
Now in this case, I'm not saying I don't agree with what they are saying, it's more about how they are saying it. Spoiled brats.

 

[Shadowoff]

Formula E is popular where? IndyCar is popular inside the USA and nothing special everywhere else, WEC isn't even close to F1 in visibility since there aren't many channels willing to broadcast 6 hours of racing straight, or fans willing to watch 6 hours non-stop.
Also, do you really think Ferrari would want to participate in a spec series like Indy? Do you really think they'd want to develop electric race cars, since when they made LaFerrari they stated that they weren't in the business of fully electric cars? Do you really think they would want to spend as much as they do in F1 to have less visibility in a dying category like LMP1, which is the exact reason for Porsche leaving? Each to their opinion, but I don't.
Ferrari was founded as an F1 team, everything else they made was just to have money to invest in Formula one, and even though F1 would lose without Ferrari, I mantain my original statement.

Prototype doesnt need to mean WEC. I agree that LMP1´s are dying, but isnt F1 aswell? There are other great Prototype Championships such as IMSA where this season started 57 cars. And they get more and more every year. If you look at the Pro drivers in GT and Prototype Sports you can clearly see the trend of joining IMSA, big names are f.e. Laurens Vanthoor, the whole Team Land Motorsport, Brandon Hartley, Giancarlo Fisichella, Alexander Sims, Patrick Pilet, Kevin Estre, ... I could list more and more drivers which come from Europe but see their big chance in IMSA and hope to join a prototype team there. Where more drivers are need to be more teams. When the series grows, due to more teams, it becomes more popular, competitive and will get a higher price pool at a certain point.

 

[paracletus]

Apparently "they mean it" (Ecclestone, 2017).
Understandable that this is frustrating for Ferrrari and Mercedes who have invested so much effort in their engines. The engines are incredible engineering masterpieces, even if unpopular with the fans.

 

[Kasti]

Formula 1 has degenerated from exciting motorsports to just another kind of "sports entertainment" like wrestling. Motorsport fans should leave for series where the spirit is still alive.

 

[Knoxstar]

Those of you that are outspoken against Ferrari are not the majority of the fan base. Ferrari is the only tie to F1 throughout history. There are many sports where athletes get paid up front to appear (golf for example). I think Ferrari could stand to loose some of the appearance funding but if they leave it will hurt big time for several years. Most of you might be race fans but there are millions worldwide that identify F1 with Ferrari, the scarlet red, the Italian passion, the history, etc.
I don't believe the engine rules are the reason they are threatening. I think it's the excuse.
Concessions need to be made by both sides and I believe they will. But right now if no one budges I think Ferrari will go elsewhere. Why not take back Le Mans?

 

[Diogo Goetz Brand]

Prototype doesnt need to mean WEC. I agree that LMP1´s are dying, but isnt F1 aswell? There are other great Prototype Championships such as IMSA where this season started 57 cars. And they get more and more every year. If you look at the Pro drivers in GT and Prototype Sports you can clearly see the trend of joining IMSA, big names are f.e. Laurens Vanthoor, the whole Team Land Motorsport, Brandon Hartley, Giancarlo Fisichella, Alexander Sims, Patrick Pilet, Kevin Estre, ... I could list more and more drivers which come from Europe but see their big chance in IMSA and hope to join a prototype team there. Where more drivers are need to be more teams. When the series grows, due to more teams, it becomes more popular, competitive and will get a higher price pool at a certain point.

If you think that Ferrari leaving Formula One for IMSA will be a step up, then let's just agree to disagree.

We shouldn't even argue if Ferrari will leave F1 and where they will go. The simple fact of the matter is that they don't have any intention to leave and are just throwing the toys out of the pram, as they always do whenever something threatens the huuuge benefits they demand to compete.

I don't know exactly what they're complaining about, they may even be right as far as I'm concerned, but reading the "Do that and we'll leave F1" story kind of gets old after the 47th time.

 

[Durge Driven]

Ferrari's antics aside I agree with others that think F1 needs them more

If they never win another WC will people gawk and stare less at a passing Ferrari

Give up GT3 tomorrow, they would still sell every super car they make