Originally Posted by clewsy:
“Realistically how easily could a rival series be created?
Could the teams just pack up all the kit and roll it back out in a new series eg: R1 Series (made it up for an example).
Or does much of the spec and content belong to F1 so it's not as simple as breaking away?”
Originally Posted by FOM Fan:
“That's the thing though, the teams don't want the logistical headache of having to set up & regulate an entirely series. Given that the teams would need to collectively agree on: Technical & Sporting Regs, circuit contracts, broadcasting contracts, 3rd party suppliers such as tyre suppliers, that sort of thing. It would never happen, or if it did happen, it would collapse in a few years like FOTA did. Also Bernie owns the rights to the "GP1" name. Also i'm sure most 3rd party suppliers of kit the teams currently have would most likely sever any existing contracts they have.”
There's also things like travel cost's & even arranging & organizing the travel which is all currently handled by FOM.
I would suspect that coming up with a formula would in the short term be fairly easy as they could just run what they have now while discussing what to do moving forward (As happened when CART/IRL split in 1996, IRL ran year old CART reg's for the 1st year while formulating there own for 1997).
The problem would be the cost's because I doubt the teams have the resources to put into everything required to start & run a new series. All those contracts that would need sorting out & paying for are one thing but there's also the things like transportation cost's & circuit accommodation that are I believe currently all managed by FOM.
As I said a week ago there was discussion back in 2005 & 2009 that the cost's were a stumbling block for teams in there breakaway threat & back then they had a lot more funding from sponsors & the big manufacturer's. Without that I don't see a breakaway series as a viable threat because as I say I don't believe they could afford to do it....... Unless they were able to get some form of external help with the funding.
To be honest though even if they managed to put everything together to form a breakaway I don't think it would work any better than what we have now because like we saw with CART & as we have seen with F1 over the years, The teams are incapable of doing things for the good of the series because there all out looking at things from the perspective of what benefits them.
Look at F1 currently, Mercedes don't want to do much to the engine regulations because they have an advantage there while Red Bull want engines to be less of a factor with aero been a bigger factor because they have Adrian Newey who is probably the best aerodynamicist in F1.