F1 » Briatore: One room, one week, one future

I'm a F-1 fan from the 60's. Jim Clark was and still is my hero. Spending 300-400 million dollars times 10 teams for 18 races a year is obscene and insane! I agree with other commentors that GP2 is not the way to go, but untill sponsors wise up{the current world recession may solve that problem} Formula One may soon be reduced to a high-speed parade of a handful of cars. I look forward to every new season but I hope i haven't watched my last REAL competitive F-1 season.

On the subject of standardised engines...

Why not go down the approach V8 Supercars have gone, in allowing Ford & Holden to build their own engines, which share a number of components which are identical between them.

flavio, you represent a manufacturer. the fate of formula 1 is actually in your hands, as without manufacturers, F1 , as we know it, cannot exist. with the reccession hitingthe manufacturers hard, why dont you float the idea with a cheaper alternative series, where you dont have to rely on bernie. dont just talk, ACT!

Regs, Smegs! The F1 guys who talk about cost cutting regulations are a joke. Have you seen RBRs so called "motorhome"? Takes days to setup. McLaren's tech center. Multi-million dollar engineers. What's Kimi's salary? Private jets to and from the race. The list goes on.... These are all under the heading of discretionary spending. Most of the money comes from sponsors and manufactures who voluntarily give it to the teams. What Briatore is saying is, 'We team principles need protection from ourselves'. The current exorbitant spending will be self-correcting with the oncoming recession.

I dont see the problem with "customer Cars", in the past (60s and 70s) there were teams like that, even Sir Frank race one...

But we need different engines... that is the soul, at least the liberty to choose between the ones that are available, remember Cosworth? competing against Ferrari, Matra, Alfa Romeo...

The key of the old good days was that teams could buy many key parts (gearboxes and engines) and went racing... Yes, today it is more complicated, but Sauber did it (with ferrari) and Force India is doing it (with McLaren)... RBR should do it also.

Anyway, each team has got a budget , and will spend it. I prefer the money to be spend for mechanics, engineers and technology rather than for huges motorhomes, food for the 1000 guests of the race week-end, ...

And Mr Briatore: what about your salary?

Wise words, lets hope someone takes note. The easiest way of limiting development costs is to do the same with the whole car as with engines - offer the design (under license) to other teams for a fixed, low price at the end of a season. This would result in two things - reduced dev costs as a whole, and especially reduced dev costs on the current car within the season (the benefit of any dev would reduce as the season went on). Can anyone think of a drawback to this?

very smart guy and a very good businessman. apart from being an excellent manager, he really does see the big picture. 57 dials on the steering wheel don''t really add much to the sport but adds a tremendous expense.

while i personally don''t want a single engine in f1, its hard to find flaws in his arguments.

personally i dont think the cost issue can be solved very easily. as long as sponsors are willing to throw money at the teams, they will find a way to spend it inside the rules that will give them some sort of advantage. lock down engines, it moves to aero. cut out aero, it moves to buttons on the wheel. so on and so forth. i''ll be really impressed if they find a viable solution