Yeah, i actually think he stands a better chance than that tbh.
Rosberg will be poached by one of the FOTA teams,
Nakajima will crash,
and Sutil will break down.
So that only leaves the new teams and Fisi as plausible competition.
The Americans won't be able to build a car that turns right,
and the Spanish will build a car that inexplicably pulls into the pits and switches itself off for a couple of hours every lunchtime.
So that only leaves a bunch of turnip farmers from Norfolk. And nothing good has ever come out of Norfolk, ever...
I think he's squids in
@Tristan, if you're looking for for an entry form, i recon Maxie's probably got a load of em stuffed in his back pocket right now. No doubt he'll be handing them out to the crowds this coming weekend.
If you need money....you could always give your local MP a call, nudge nudge, wink wink, "say no-mor-ah" .
[edit] Oh, and another thing Mr "so called" ShottyGlass. For f**ks sake do me a favour, change your effing sig. It's not big, it's not clever and it's not funny. Be a sport !
hehe, the driver you are promoting as doing well against Norfolk competition ... comes from Norfolk. They'll overrun F1 and remove all the tracks with gradients claiming it unfairly penalises them.
Whilst I agree with you on the latter team, the first team to pull out was Lola who I think can be credited with quite a serious entry, they've not commented on the reasons they pulled out - although you could bet your bottom dollar it's because they wanted to race against real opposition. I would be very suprised if many of the reserve list teams would want to compete in the F1 that's left, and whilst I am sure some of the applications where just to give Max more leverage, I think a good half dozen where serious applications.
I don't think he's going to get anywhere. He himself is on record as SUGGESTING they form a breakaway series if they're not happy, and said that it would be fine by him if they did. Entrapment much?
"Preparations for the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship continue but publication of the final 2010 entry list will be put on hold while the FIA asserts its legal rights."
So there's the extension..
If my business was put in the same positions as these teams, that is; those who didn't initially get invited to the 2010 season, but were asked to sit in a reserve list; I think at this point, I would feel like I was just being used as an FIA pawn, to try and threaten the other teams into signing a contract.
I fully understand why these teams might pull out in this sense, because why would I want my business to compete in a championship where I was always second best, before I even put a car on the road?
I for one, am quite happy about the breakaway reality. No doubt, it would be tough to form a new series in six months or so, but these teams have people that have been in the sport for so many years, collectively there is just as much - if not more - knowledge about the sport than those running the FIA.
In other slightly related news, I loved Ecclestone's interview this morning with the BBC:
"I haven't seen a press release from FOTA"
"I know nothing"
"There is no issue"
"I don't understand why there are issues"
"Speak to the FIA and Max Mosley, I know nothing"
Amusing, but also alarming. Is this guy really doing business like this? For real? What is he playing at? How is he even allowed to walk around in the F1 paddock without a load of pre-managed answers in his head? I think he's starting to show his senility, big time.
There's nothing more we'd know if he had said "no comment", so for what it's worth even if a bit misplaced, playing it down was fair play imo I agree that FIA's overdoing the scare and divide-and-conquer tactics, and hope the entirely team-managed breakoff will turn out good.
I can imagine right now Bernie is pacing up and down his office, making angry phone calls, shouting like Father Jack at the nearest person.
Another thing, once the FOTA teams are 'liberated' and no longer have a common enemy, how long do you think it will be before they all start falling out with eachother?
Max is horrified by teams spending loads of their budget at the track, but he dosen't mind if they spend it in court.
If they put in sensible rules to govern the sport, rather than seemingly trusting it all to two mad people that pocket the profits, then there won't be much to fall out over for the next couple of decades. The usual rule bickering will still take place, but you get that in any form of motorsport that isn't a spec series (and even then, the minor mods to the basic car often cause upset).
It's primarily the two mad people that need to be circumvented, rather than the FIA itself. Having said that, the FIA is a bit too big for it's boots.
However, being French in principle, the FIA will back down, surrender and retreat before too long
Yup, the way out of this is for Max to resign, and Bernie knows it. He's universally hated by the sport and the fans, his only ally has been Bernie Ecclestone - and if Bernie is painting Max ready for the fall his days are numbered.
Question is, does that meen we'll get Montezemollo?
For Williams it is pretty simple, they've got no get out clause not to enter F1, their entire business is based upon contracts to race in the FIA Formula One World Championship. They don't have a choice, and that's why FOTA kicked them out.
Prodrive can replace Williams in the breakaway series. Campos has also started asking about the possibility of joining in. Seems they'd rather race in the sun with Ferrari than under the Mosley cloud.