Promotion and Relegation in F1?

[Touring Mars]

Saw a small article about this in a (free) newspaper this morning, that F1 may introduce a promotion and relegation system for the bottom two teams each season....

BBC article...
Article...

 

[Appie]

the dumbest thing i ever heard

 

[Lee]

I don't really know how thats gonna work. You'd first have to get yet another 10/11 teams to join up.

They've struggled over the years to keep 10.

 

[Sting]

Yep, I heard about this on BBC New Sport online and it's a crazy and stupid idea.... and as Bee said how they gonna find the extra teams? Bring back Arrows, Simtek, Ligier, Brabham, Lotus..... ???

 

[X-Othermic]

Wtf has Mosley been smoking? Dumbest idea ever.

 

[Blake]

I read this last night, and it is so full of problems.

I have no idea what GP2 teams are spending, but I doubt it is in the order of $100million a year – so there is no way they could even step up into F1, let alone be competitive.

Even if they managed to get the funds under control, it takes several years to become competetive in Formula 1, so teams that are promoted would simply be relegated the next year.

I’m getting sick of reading these crazy proposals from Mosley, it won’t be long before I no longer care enough to read any articles with the word Mosley in the headline…

 

[GilesGuthrie]

I’m getting sick of reading these crazy proposals from Mosley, it won’t be long before I no longer care enough to read any articles with the word Mosley in the headline…

Mosley does this from time to time. If you think that what he's saying is beyond the bounds of mere lunacy (which this undoubtedly is), then what you're reading is his opening bargaining position.

Mosley is the sort of person who will open negotiations for a Ferrari Enzo by saying "I'll give you a quid for it". Obviously in his mind, the final position is much more reasonable, but by starting out so apparently divorced from reality, he's able then to get quite close to what he wants, because it seems moderate in comparison with his public position.

I note with interest his comments in the press lunch this week:

There is a plan now, if the World Council agrees on March 22, to open the entries [to the 2008 World Championship] on March 23 and then close them again fairly soon thereafter, maybe 10 days or a bit longer. And then after another 30 days, we would announce who the entrants are.

The reason for doing this is under the new regulations we can change anything, even things which affect the design of the car, up to 18 months before January 1. So for 2008, we have got until June 30 (this year). So what makes a lot of sense is once we know who wants to compete in the championship, have that group together and take any steps that need to be taken and finalise the regulations, making sure everything is as it should be. And that's really it.

Under the Concorde Agreement we have to publish the technical regulations for 2008 before the end of 2005, which we have done. And of course once we know who is in the championship, we can sit down with those people and adjust the regulations if necessary, so the idea is to know who is going to be competing in the championship in good time so that we can adjust the regulations should they need it before June 30, 2006.

This is very clever. March 23rd is only six weeks away. The manufacturers are all saying "give us the rules we want and we'll commit". Max is here saying "Commit, and then we'll talk about the rules".

I guess that the thing to consider when you're reviewing what Mosley is saying is that he's very astute politically. He's also thinking two or three steps ahead, and so it's likely that he will frequently appear to be completely mad.

 

[Blake]

I guess that the thing to consider when you're reviewing what Mosley is saying is that he's very astute politically. He's also thinking two or three steps ahead, and so it's likely that he will frequently appear to be completely mad.

This is true, but when I read stuff like this I don’t think about how clever he is, rather, I begin to wonder whether or not he’s fallen down a flight of stairs recently.

It is very hard to take him seriously, at all, when he comes out with claptrap like this every other week.

 

[Poverty]

The old mans gone off his rocker.

 

[Appie]

The old mans gone off his rocker.

👍

 

[sauberc11]

It would be interesting if he got it to work

 

[Sureboss]

Wouldn't work though.

Financial implications would screw it up.

 

[wfooshee]

There's an assumption that the GP2 teams being promoted even want to run in F1.

And why would an F1 team relegated to GP2 even bother showing up? Now they gotta buy all new equipment, probably find drivers because their F1 drivers had F1 contracts. And their sponsors feel peachy, too, I'm sure.

I'm thinking Max remembers the day (early '60s) when an F1 car and an F2 car weren't all that different. Pop out the 900-cc lump and drop in a 1.5, mount slightly-less-skinny tires, and off you go GP racing.

If an F1 team had the budget concerns that would make them worried about being relegated, how much are they gonna spend in F1 when they know they probably won't stay? It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Oh, wait, I've got it figured out! The teams just trade equipment! Cars, drivers, crews all stay where they're at, team bosses move back and forth every year.