FOTA reveals new changes for 2009 and coming years
By BMW Sauber F1
March 5 2009
The Formula One Teams Association (FOTA) today outlined its roadmap for Formula One at a press conference at which senior management figures from all 10 current Formula One teams shared the stage together.
Setting out its proposed agenda for the evolution of the sport, FOTA unveiled a dynamic package of unanimously agreed proposals which, pending the approval of the FIA, will take effect in 2009 and/or 2010.
These proposals are aimed at increasing the stability, sustainability, substance and show of Formula One, and have all been developed as a result of rigorous interrogation of a FOTA global audience survey carried out in 17 countries earlier this year. The study canvassed views of existing fans but also, for the first time, drew on insights from a cross-section of general and infrequent followers of the sport, in line with FOTA's stated ambition to broaden as well as to deepen the appeal of Formula One.
The proposals can be classified under three headings - technical, sporting and commercial - in line with the three working groups inaugurated when FOTA was formed in September 2008. These proposals will ensure the retention of Formula One's unique and essential sporting 'DNA', improve the show for all audiences, reduce costs, and increase the value proposition to the major stakeholders.
Luca di Montezemolo, Chairman of FOTA, said: "This is an unprecedented moment in Formula One history. Above all else, for the first time the teams are unified and steadfast - with a clear, collective vision. Thanks to this unity, all the teams have already managed to make a significant reduction to their costs for 2009. And, while we will continue to compete vigorously on track, we all share one common goal: to work together to improve Formula One by ensuring its stability, sustainability, substance and show for the benefit of our most important stakeholder, namely the consumer. It is with this mindset that we now intend to work hard, with our partners at the FIA and FOM, our shared goal being to optimise the future of Formula One."
Looks good (especially new points), but I don't agree with KERS standarization. I hope Mosley could stop that, as KERS was supposed to be an innovating field for propelling its use in road cars and also become a performance differenciator in F1.
Didn't like either there is no new quali format for 2009
New points system seems to be ok, I like KERS-standard because it's incredible waste of money this season. Neither is KERS important for road cars, neither for environment. Q is ok for me - so I it's good it stays the same. But I don't like the idea of fuel loads made public.
Why not, instead of giving the tender to a third party or to Williams system, they create a joint venture with some of the engineers of each team which had worked on KERS, to work forward on it, still allowing a system equal for all, yet investing on R&D and improving the system furthermore, keeping the road relevancy.
I'm okay with most of the recommendations, particularly with regards to providing tyre and fuel information. I do, however, have a couple concerns.
First, why is shortening the races even being considered? The typical race is only an hour and a half as it is. That's less time than a football match, which is itself short compared to American football, baseball, men's tennis, etc. Had the 250km distance been in place in 2005, the Italian GP would have lasted 1 hour 2 minutes. I understand that the casual fan might benefit from a shorter race, but I doubt the paying fans at the track will get an 18% refund for the racing they won't be seeing.
My other issue is with awarding a point for pitstops. There already is a benefit for doing a fast pitstop. It's called track position. Besides becoming a gimmick to make people watch pitstops that don't really effect the overall outcome of the race, I would think this would lead to unnecessary safety risks. A team that has a significant gap both ahead and behind their car (or is running well out of the points) shouldn't feel the need to rush their stop, but the new rule would encourage just that. In fact, what would stop teams form making stops just for the sake of trying to do a fast one?
I don't want grand prix coverage to become 15 minutes of racing, 45 minutes of watching backmarkers' pitstops, then a final 10 minutes of actual racing.
Me neither. Maybe it would be better if FiA made these fuels loads and info available after race so that fans could discuss (let's be frank - argue most of the times) with more info and still have some fun after Q .
We record all IP addresses on the Sportnetwork message boards which may be required by the authorities in case of defamatory or abusive comment.
We seek to monitor the Message Boards at regular intervals.
We do not associate Sportnetwork with any of the comments and do not take responsibility for any statements or opinions expressed on the Message Boards.
If you have any cause for concern over any material posted here please let us know as soon as possible by e-mailing
abuse@sportnetwork.net