25.1.09

A huge amount has happened since my last look at the F1 world a couple of months ago, with the withdrawal of Honda from F1 and a battle blazing for the future of F1 between the FIA, the Formula One Teams Association (FOTA) and F1 commercial rights holder Formula One Management (FOM) represented by Bernie Ecclestone.

Honda's decision was entirely understandable in the face of the global meltdown in the automotive market, yet still came as a shock, especially as it was made by an organisation considered for many years to be one of the real racers. As engine suppliers, Honda won six consecutive world championships from 1986-1991 and is the only Japanese automotive company ever to have achieved anything in F1.

This reputation became heavily tarnished in their latest F1 incarnation and their dismal results in the two years since they took over BAR must have been an additional factor in their exit. Last season they finished ninth and last of the scorers in the Constructors' Championship, a long way from 2006 when I tipped the (then BAR) team for world championship honours. In the event they let me down, coming home fourth, although Jenson Button did take his first win in Hungary which also looks likely to be his last.

This win, four second places and fourteen thirds are the best results of Honda's latest nine year, multi-billion pound F1 adventure, which let us not forget also includes the brave but futile Super Aguri effort. A distant second place (to Ferrari) for BAR-Honda in the 2004 teams' title was their best overall result.

Ironically, with the 2009 car the first to have been produced under Ross Brawn's leadership and for the playing field leveled by new regulations, this year could well have seen a turnaround in their form; unless someone buys the team we will never know. There are said to be a a dozen viable bids for what will be a very cheap team - as Honda are looking for someone to free them of their huge obligations if the team does close, but any would-be purchaser will have to prove that they can finance it for the long haul. Might you be one of them? January 31 is the deadline and approaching fast.

Honda's withdrawal certainly bought the need for cost-saving into sharp focus, part of which was the FIA's proposal for a "standard" engine. This caused a huge fuss, with Ferrari and Toyota threatening to quit the sport, yet was only one of a number of options proposed by the FIA. Another was for the current manufacturers to supply engines to the independant teams for €5m a season from 2010. This meant all of the engine suppliers agreeing to a huge reduction on the (then) current price of €20m p.a.

The FIA pushed ahead and got a tender from Cosworth and on 12 December a raft of cost-cutting measures was announced by the FIA World Motor Sports Council. One item was in 2010: "Engines will be available to the independent teams for less than €5 million per team per season. These will either come from an independent supplier or be supplied by the manufacturer teams backed by guarantees of continuity. If an independent supplier, the deal will be signed no later than 20 December 2008".

No such deal was announced, despite five teams (including Renault!) said to have expressed an interest and on 8 January FOTA agreed that members would supply the indies for €5m p.a.; thus the standard engine crisis seems to have been averted; was it ever anything other than a goad to FOTA? What is interesting is that FOTA have acted in concert, probably the first time ever, and maybe this new unity will be telling in the future of F1. So, no Cossies again for the moment - I hope they got well paid for their trouble.

The cost-saving measures for 2009 and onwards also include a ban on in-season testing outside GPs, restrictions on wind-tunnel usage and much more for the future, including standardised transmissions, organisational changes to reduce manpower and lots more besides - read them yourself.

In the future the FIA says that all elements of the chassis will be listed and a decision made as to whether or not it will be a "performance differentiator" or competitive element. Some performance differentiators will be homologated for the season, so they cannot be developed, others made from inexpensive materials and elements which are not performance differentiators will be prescriptive and be obtained or manufactured in the most economical possible way.

So, for example, the FIA might decide that the teams can still compete via chassis design and construction, but the tub must be homologated for the year. Or that they can compete through suspension, but systems must be made from metal, but they can't compete through brakes and these must be a control part or made to a standard specification.

Mosley has stated that "Costs must be reduced to a point where a well-run independent team can operate profitably with just the FOM money and very moderate sponsorship". FOM money is at the heart of battle currently being fought out between FOTA, led by its Chairman, Ferrari President Luca di Montezemolo and FOM boss Bernie Ecclestone. Basically the teams want more money and Bernie says they aren't having any!

Luca's pronouncements on the future of F1 actually go far beyond money, his vision is where the participants have much greater control over and reap more of the financial benefits from being in F1. Also that more money stays in the sport to support races at traditional venues. Luca has said the sport needs four "S's" - Stability, Seriousness, Spectacle and Sustainability (click here to read more). His version of F1 appeals much more to traditionalists than the (extreme) alternative of "spec." cars, differentiated only by colour schemes, racing around Far-Eastern car parks at night.

As might be expected, Bernie's response has been to go on the offensive. He had a go about Ferrari's "special relationship" with FOM (they get more money than any other team), but FOTA blithely said this isn't a problem. Luca delivered his Mission Statement at the traditional annual Wrooom Ferrari/Ducati ski thingy where Bernie turned up unexpectedly and said that with cost-reductions the teams will need less money! Jackie Stewart has thrown in his three penn'orth in with a scathing attack on Bernie and Max, saying their time was over and that more than current 50% of the revenue generated by the sport must remain in it. Bernie's response to this was, "Most times when people get older, they become a bit senile. He has just caught it a bit earlier, this is all".

Not content with all this, in an interview which appeared in the Daily Express newspaper on 21 January, Bernie said that FOM and the teams, not the FIA should write the regulations! The reason being that because the regs. affect the commercial side of the sport and there is a 2001 European Commission ruling that, "The FIA will, therefore, have no influence over the commercial exploitation of the Formula One Championship". In the article Bernie is quoted as saying that the FIA can't really make cost-cutting regulations, but that the teams have allowed them. Since Max is siding with the teams over money, this looks like a textbook attempt by Bernie to divide and rule.

Meanwhile, most of the 2009 cars have been announced. As a sign of the times their launches have been very low-key, either via the Interweb or just shoved out into the pit-lane at the new Autodromo do Algarve in Portugal where most of the teams were testing this week. In the face of a bad weather forecast (which was accurate), Ferrari elected to stay at Mugello, but the weather there has been just as bad. The changed regulations have certainly meant that the cars are not only different to last year, but also different to each other as the teams have each come up with their own solutions. So far, the McLaren looks the prettiest and the Renault the ugliest sister, but no doubt a more common look will emerge when we've had some meaningful times.

The 2009 cars feature Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems (KERS), well at least most of them do. Ferrari weren't keen, but the F60's got one and Kimi says it works well. On the other hand Toyota, possibly the global leader in such technology and certainly with a potential marketing advantage to be gained, has said they are not going to bother with it for now! The Toyota team has said they must win a race this year and don't want the distraction of KERS, but it's interesting that the real racers at Ferrari have decided to go for it. Renault don't want it, saying it's expensive and dangerous. BMW do, saying it isn't, but they probably won't race with it in the first race in Australia. Uniquely, Williams has a mechanical flywheel-based system, rather than the batteries all the others use, but probably won't use it at the start of the season either.

The drivers do seem to agree that whilst the reduced downforce is very noticeable in high speed corners, the biggest difference is the return to slicks, greatly increasing mechanical grip in medium and low speed corners. However, most don't think the new regs. will increase overtaking, which is what they were for, but the change does mean that no-one knows where they are, for now and uncertainty generally makes for better racing.

The Portugal test was largely a wash-out with only Wednesday afternoon dry enough for slicks. Consequently, nothing of significance can be drawn from the times, but for the record Toro Rosso new signing Sebastian Buemi was quickest in an '08 car with '09 downforce (allegedly).