Red Bull quits F-1

[curtisaa]

At todays L A C & C we were having a discussion about this topic. here you go Magnus, Mark M, Dave E, et: al

http://www.autoweek.com/article/20111202/F1/111209971

[Flieger]

It is not leaving F1, it is leaving the F1 teams' union so that they can spend as much money as they want on their F1 team, rather than be subject to the current restrictions.

[curtisaa]

It is not leaving F1, it is leaving the F1 teams' union so that they can spend as much money as they want on their F1 team, rather than be subject to the current restrictions.

from how I can understand & interpet the F-1 rules : If you're not a member you are NOT allowed to race.

[naparsei]

Curt,
Since Ferrari is leaving too I am pretty sure Max is correct. Leaving FOTA is no big deal, it just fragments the teams power against Bernie. FOTA is like the union...

[Carl Bauer]

Leaving FOTA is no big deal, it just fragments the teams power against Bernie. FOTA is like the union...

Exactly, except they're splitting with FOTA to strike a better deal from Bernie not so they can spend more money outside of FOTA. They're businesses, they want to make as much money as possible and if Bernie's divide and conquer strategy gives it to them they'll take it! Bernie is the ultimate wheeler-dealer.

[Flieger]

Exactly, except they're splitting with FOTA to strike a better deal from Bernie not so they can spend more money outside of FOTA. They're businesses, they want to make as much money as possible and if Bernie's divide and conquer strategy gives it to them they'll take it! Bernie is the ultimate wheeler-dealer.

Yup, that pretty much says it all right there.

[Flieger]

It doesn't matter to me though. I stopped watching after a few races this year. I used to watch it for the technological excellence and innovation. Now all the cool stuff is gone, and there are contrived regulations to make the slow cars faster and the fast cars slower. Like racing communism. It is not as bad as the balance of performance in the GT realm (which is a necessary evil to some degree to make the racing exciting with so many different GT cars), but it really does not seem like a sport anymore. No danger, not much engineering freedom (active suspension for one thing), and now the guy in front has an air brake while the guy behind can zip past with a DRS.

[curtisaa]

Looking at CVC's TV contracts , it would be prudent for them to sell the F-1 marque to Fox ( Murdochs ). They earn approx
$ 60-70 M a year for TV rights throughout Europe...thats a far cry from the NFL TV deal they just signed for $31 Billion.

[Cornpanzer]

It doesn't matter to me though. I stopped watching after a few races this year. I used to watch it for the technological excellence and innovation. Now all the cool stuff is gone, and there are contrived regulations to make the slow cars faster and the fast cars slower.

Actually, if you had stuck around for the season, you would have seen that this is not the case at all. Yes, you can argue that the DRS is contrived, but the fact is that it made the racing better. It DID NOT make fast cars slower. It DID NOT allow slower cars to pass faster cars. It only allowed faster cars to pass slower cars. The car in arrears could only pass if it was able to get within one second of the car in front. The only way this could happen was if it was faster to begin with. In the rare case where traffic or some other circumstance allowed a slower car to use the DRS to pass, the faster car would simply re-pass and move on his way.

What this did was prevent situations where much faster cars would get stuck behind slower cars and have their race ruined because most of the tracks have few good passing zones and the aero development of the cars has created such a wake behind them that nobody can pass. What I noticed from watching this year is that the cars would essentially seek their own level. In several cases, fast cars would have poor qualifying, start from the back and then pass 12 or 13 cars to get back up where they were supposed to be. What DRS did not do was enable slower cars to achieve results that they didnt earn. Case in point - Mercedes. That is a 7th or 8th position car and that is where they finished all year. DRS didnt help them finish on the podium because they didnt have the speed.
Aside from Vettel's amazing performance, it was a fun year to watch. The racing throughout the field was better than ever. Its come a long way from the processionals of a few years ago...but you probably didnt watch those either.

[Flieger]

I was a Schumacher fan when I was younger and he was in his prime. I have German ancestors so I liked having Deutschland Ueber Alles played every Sunday. But I did not like all the team orders.

What I really like watching is old videos of him at Beneton back when some cars still had V12s and Senna was around. And the active suspension cars before that. So much awesomeness.

For me it is more about the technology than the racing.

That is why I am into sportscar racing. LeMans allows much more freedom to develop technologies (even if some dominate (diesels)).