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The British Grand Prix Thread, Goodbye Max!
Well this is all a bit of a mess isn't it. I never expected it to actually go this far. Of course it may very well be one final attempt to get F1 to submit to their demands, but how long are they going to keep doing that for. Ultimately, FOTA probably consider their breakaway series the best option at the moment.
Speaking as if the breakaway series DOES happen, there's no end of problems to consider. The contracts that the tracks, suppliers to F1 (tyres etc) are all under may well forbid them from having any part in it, some of the teams are likely going to be sued if they go ahead with it, a ton of broadcasters have long lasting contracts to show F1 which there may or may not be get-out clauses with.
It's definitely got potential. If the MotoGP organisers are getting involved that's a good thing for sure, and it's definitely going to be the one that tracks/sponsors etc want to b e involved with (contracts allowing). A lot of the rules fans currently hate aren't welcomed by FOTA, although when it comes to that the united front will no doubt break away fairly rapidly.
Either way, this has to be the end for Max Mosley. FOTA have made it so that the only way F1 can keep them is for the 2010 rules to be reversed, and the management be changed - especially Max. It'd be totally unworkable to have him and FOTA continue, and naturally the teams are several trillion times more valuable to the sport. There's no real way for F1 to survive without any of the FOTA names, so they'd be remarkably stupid to keep refusing, but in a sense I'm at the point where I think maybe the breakaway series is worth trying. The problems are pretty major, but similar series have been organised in recent years, and this is the one people will want to be involved in, so I think the primary issues are legal ones, rather than practical or financial.
Anyhow, apparently there's a Grand Prix this weekend. I don't think anyone cares very much. Maybe Nakajima will get some good runs in practice today. He probably fancies himself for 2010 WDC.