An anonymous blog entry on the Ferrari website has savaged Max Mosley’s Formula One legacy. The article under the banner of The Horse Whisperer is titled “For whom the bell tolls” and brings in to question the merits of introducing new teams into F1. It’s not so much that new teams are in the sport that is the issue, but more the structures employed by the FIA to facilitate these introductions that is causing concern in Maranello.
The closing paragraph of the piece reads, “The cause in question was to allow smaller teams to get into Formula 1. This is the outcome: two teams will limp into the start of the championship, a third is being pushed into the ring by an invisible hand … and, as for the fourth, well, you would do better to call on Missing Persons to locate it. In the meantime, we have lost two constructors along the way, in the shape of BMW and Toyota, while at Renault, there’s not much left other than the name. Was it all worth it?”
In the current off-season, then, we have seen the return of, arguably, the sport’s greatest driver. As a seven-time World Champion Michael Schumacher is certainly the most successful driver of all time. Reigning champion Jenson Button has moved in with the Hamiltons at McLaren. Journeyman Rubens Barrichello has similarly departed Brawn GP, the team he, along with Button, helped raise from the ashes to deliver the constructor’s title after both men were effectively unemployed a couple of weeks before the season began. That team, in itself, has since been bought out by the world’s oldest car manufacturer.
Dual champ Fernando Alonso has left a team in the wake of the sport’s most serious scandal to see how he looks in a red jump suit. He’s not even started a race for them yet and he’s already declared his new Ferrari the best car he’s ever driven. He joins Felipa Massa, who had the 2008 word title in his grasp for all of ten seconds or so, and is returning to the game after missing a large portion of the 2009 season thanks to an errant spring that was discourteous enough to lodge itself in his head.
Lotus, one of Formula One’s most revered names is back, after a 15 year hiatus. This time, instead of being a definition of British motorsport it is underwritten by Malaysia Pty Ltd. Oh, and speaking of revered F1 names, Aytron Senna’s nephew has a reservation at the table of the world’s biggest and most over the top motorsport category. That’s if his taxi can get started, much less deliver him to Bahrain in time.
Which brings us nicely back to the Ferrari blog and the question, has it all been worth it? For me, yes it has. But this is mostly due to the circumstances described above and not the guiding hand of Max Mosley.
Formula One may sometimes be described as lacking excitement on the track. One thing that cannot be brought in to question, however, is the drama, excitement and tantrums the sport delivers off the track. After one of the most melodramatic off-seasons in recent memory we now await what is probably the most eagerly anticipated season since 1950. There’s only 16 days to go. I can’t wait!
[Source: Ferrari.com | Thanks to Wes for the tip]