The Formula One drivers went back to driving today and all looked normal. But behind the scenes there is still much to be resolved if the British racing car industry is to avoid permanent damage.
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The Indianapolis debacle three weeks ago – when the Michelin Men refused to race and the Bridgestone Boys took the points – still exposes the sport to ridicule and highlights for spectators how much tickets cost and how little actual sport is offered in return.
It is clear that Formula One racing has now reached that critical point where it must either change or perish. For the UK, neglect of the business would be damaging because this is the world centre of racing cars in general and Formula One cars in particular. Destruction of the formula would endanger a £2bn industry employing 40,000 people.
Why did Michelin take the wrong tyres to Indianapolis? “We made a mistake. We will have to compensate the fans,” said Michelin. Why didn’t organisers simply allow the inadequate Michelins to be substituted by Bridgestones? “That didn’t look so easy at the time,” admitted Bernie Ecclestone.
Max Mosley, the President of motor sport’s governing body, the FIA had promised to meet the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association today at Silverstone to discuss the points fiasco. But the meeting was scrapped. Things have reached the point where there cannot even be agreement on how to settle disagreement. Experience journalists like Alan Henry who has covered the sport for 30 years describe it as “bitterly divided.”
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By GlobalDataHenry’s paper The Guardian this week quoted Sir Frank Williams of the Williams team as saying that the problems are “much more serious” than they have ever been in the past. In the Eighties, while the formula was being built up, Ecclestone and Mosley were on the side of the protagonists. Now they were in the business of controlling the sport – exerting power that was “protected, and responsible to no-one other than themselves,” says Sir Frank.
The potential interest for this weekend’s event has already been diluted by Britain’s brightest hope, Jensen Button, announcing that he has little chance of winning in front of his home crowd. The McLarens are so fast at Silverstone that they are unbeatable, he said yesterday.
A changing of the guard in Formula One has been in the wind for nearly five years. The motor manufacturers can see no good reason why they carry all the expenses and Bernie Ecclestone’s companies make all the money. But car makers who compete fiercely all week in the market place find it hard to co-operate at weekends. Inviting them to take charge would be inviting lunatics to run the asylum. Nonetheless, power is drifting in that direction. Honda took full control of the former BAR team late last year; BMW has just bought Sauber. Only Ford has moved in the opposite direction by unloading the Jaguar team onto a receptive Red Bull. But that was an economic decision driven by the appalling financial performance of its Premier Auto Group.
The one thing that is necessary to make change happen is the selection of a new man to make it happen. Ecclestone and Mosley now have just too much history with the team principals to be able to climb back into a comfortable relationship. And the manufacturers need someone strong enough to look after all of them without preferring any of them.
Strangely, either side could pick the same man. David Richards, the highly-regarded head of Prodrive is out of Formula One as a consequence of Honda taking control of BAR. But everyone close to him knows that he loves the sport and was very disappointed at not being involved long enough to get a shot at the constructors’ championship. The smart money says that he will be back as a manager – either as the new front for Ecclestone’s business or as the ring-leader of the breakaway group. A man to watch.
Rob Golding
