FORMULA 1, WHAT A F***ING MESS IT IS!!!!!!

How in the name of all that is sacred could it come to this, what was a row about the budget cap for the 2010 season has now escalated into all out war between the governing body (the FIA) and the Teams (FOTA) with no less than EIGHT teams threatening a boycott to form their own championship. I am simply pulling my hair out at the thought of Formula 1 descending into something resembling the great IndyCar split of the mid 1990's, the sport splitting itself into two is simply unhealthy and it never works (at least in my view.)

Heres how this dogs**t mess unfolded in the first place, just before the start of the european season of races, the FIA and Max Mosley in particular were becoming fed up with FOTA's speed when it was coming to a viable solution regarding cost cutting, it sounded like FOTA and in particular the big manufacturer teams were very reluctant to join in the cost cutting program, and with good reason when you look at their seasonal budgets, for example Ferrari are rumoured to be spending £300million a season while Toyota dwarf everybody with their half a billion pound annual budget.

It was at this point when Max Mosley, the FIA President of the last 18 years stepped in and decided to come in with a "if you wont sort it, i will" attitude and came in with the FIA's idea of a cost cutting measure, by slapping a budget cap of £40million (a similar budget it would have been to run the little Minardi team in their final days) but with incentives for adhering to the cap, for example, higher engine rev limits, four wheel drive systems, ABS etc, also the FIA used this as an opportunity to open up new entries to bring the grid back up to its more traditionsl 26 cars of which 3 new teams were picked last week (Campos, USF1 and Manor). Now this was an initial proposal and FOTA rightly challenged Mosley's proposals which eventually he came out weeks later and said that the 2 tier championship idea was a bit over optimistic. But if we thought the row would halt after that, we would be so so so wrong.

The disagreements then escalated as it moved onto the budget cap limit, and this is where I am in total disagreement with some of the manufacturers teams beliefs on this (never fear, there are some points Mosley has put across i dont agree with either, both sides of the story have their flaws). FOTA said that the budget cap is a "compromise on the fundameltal values of the sport." So spending hundreds of millions of pounds a season jsut to find the slightest advantage on the track is what F1 is all about is it? If it is, why is it that the most prestigious part of Formula 1 has always been the world DRIVERS championship, it is a championship to find out the best combination between MAN and MACHINE, not an arms race to see who can spend the most just so they can push through a few extra sales of their in the showrooms.

There is one part of FOTA's argument i am in agreement with though, and that is the gradual climbdown of the costs, not as quickly as i would like to see it happen yes and not to the level i think is sensible, but certainly not all in one go like Mosley is seeming to stick by, what Mosley is proposing in one fell swoop is totally unworkable, there have been suggestions that the FIA could put in a system that the budget cap could be reached over a 2 year period with a higher budget cap for 2010 (around the £90million mark) being lowered to a figure nearer to what Mosley wanted for 2011. Plenty of room for compromise there. But that is where the 2 sides have argued on, both are refusing to accept any sort of compromise.

It looks like the only way this situation will ever come to a conclusion from FOTA's point of view is to see Mosley ousted from his position as FIA president, but we will wait and see.