Another element in F1’s and worldwide open-wheel racing overall health today is that, like many sanctioning bodies here in the USA, the
FIA has sold-out to the manufacturers and allowed a free-for-all to take shape in Europe’s ladder system. Once there was a clearly defined ladder from FF1600 through F3 and F2 to
F1. Through the sixties and seventies and into the eighties this system worked wonderfully, but the FIA and other national sanctioning bodies have allowed a plethora of manufacturer-driven, spec-engine or spec-car formulae to proliferate, thoroughly obliterating the sharply defined ladder to the top of old.
Of course, the spec-car syndrome is everywhere in racing today, as I have grumbled before in this column and elsewhere. Even F1 has been infected by this disease with most of the layout of chassis, aerodynamics and engine strictly defined by the rules. I believe a big, technical shake-up is needed, but don’t think it ever will happen. It’s the same as in Champ Car and IRL. Everyone is too timid to seriously attack re-writing the rules to produce more interesting, more technically challenging cars that might even be able to advance the cause of new fuel or engine technologies. I think it’s a very sad situation for a sport that once caught the attention of the man-in-the-street with adventurous cars that were the product of bold, forward thinking.
One of the big questions for American F1 fans is, what will happen to the United States GP? Will it move from Indianapolis to Las Vegas as Ecclestone has suggested? That’s certainly Bernie’s goal. He’s been working quietly for many years with Steve Wynn to make it happen. Regardless, Tony George’s days as an F1 promoter appear to be numbered.
The big question for F1 as a whole is, what happens post-Bernie? That’s one I cannot begin to answer, but as we all know, the ongoing F1 power struggle is unlikely to yield anyone who might be able to fill the little man’s giant shoes.
