This is what it takes for my local sports section to cover F1

anti-fascist

The folks who run Formula One racing are idiots.  I understand that they want to contain costs and make the sport a bit greener, but the ways in which these monied elites go about attempting to achieve that goal are horrendous.  Earlier this year, the sport threatened to self-destruct for next season, with the ‘commissioner’ (FIA President Max Mosley)  going one way and the teams going another.  Then, just when a resolution was reached, Mosley started to send a signal that he was going to back out of the deal.  now, no one knows what’s going to happen.  So, am I going to spend any money on the fancy F1 app at iTunes so I can follow the races on my mobile?  Not until I know there’s is going to be an actual F1 season next year.

Oh, but wait, the insanity continues.  Now Bernie Eccelstone, the guy who basically owns the sport, decided that now would be a good time to talk about what a great leader Hitler was.  Good luck trying to walk that one back.  these people are giving Sarah Palin a run for her moeny.

So after an amazing and competitive championship last year, featuring a young and charismatic driver (Lewis Hamilton) who is also the first black champion (and driver), and after the phoenix-like rebirth of Honda as BraunGP, none of which was covered with any substance by the American media, now my local paper has something to say (scroll half-way down – still no respect).

That’s OK, F1 bigwigs.  We know how you feel.  After all, we threw snowballs at Santa.

F1 manages not to destroy itself, for the moment

brawn_button_march_2009

While I’m not clear on all the details, it now seems certain that there will be a 2010 Formula One season.  There had been talk of a two-tiered championship (bad idea), budget caps (prbably a good idea) and a host of technical issues intended to make the sport more cost-effective and efficient.  I don’t know how much of that will be present in the next round.  I was just getting used to the current regs!

One thing I know is that FIA President Max Mosley will not seek another term, which should alleviate some antagonism between teams and sport management.  There has been a long history of bitterness between the teams and the governing body.

What comes next, I don’t know.  And it’s frusturating because the current season has proven to be pretty uncompetitive.  I am now a Red Bull fan and was glad to see their strong victory at the British Grand Prix, but it is still Brawn way ahead of the pack, and Jenson Button will have to have some disaster befall him in order to lose the driver’s trophy.  So, unfortunately, the rest of the season is just going through the motions.  There is no incentive for any of the slow teams (McLaren, BMW, Ferrari) to improve this year’s cars because it seems we’re still waiting to see what next year’s rules will be.