Just 18 cars will line-up for this weekend’s USA Formula One Grand Prix, the smallest grid in close to a decade.
It comes in a week when both Caterham and Marussia, Formula One’s perennial backmarkers, went into administration under crippling debts, caused by the exorbitant cost of competing in the series and the inequitable revenue model.
Incredibly, a global series that generates somewhere between $1.5 to 1.8 billion per year can’t sustain its own teams because so much of those profits leave the sport.
The television rights for the series were sold from the governing body, the FIA, to Bernie Ecclestone for a 100-year term at a pittance (£360 million) given the length of the deal; then on-sold to a company called CVC, who has reportedly taken around $4 billion from the sport.
Meanwhile, the arms race in Formula One has driven most teams to great financial strain, the idea of a budget cap to contain costs keeps getting shot down by the big teams, and attendances and sponsorships have plummeted.
In order to counter the diminishing grid, there’s a push for either the bigger teams to field third cars or sell off their machines as customer cars to the privateers.
Both, though, bring with them serious problems, mainly in terms of the impact it would have on the competitive side of the series and the increased centralisation of power it would give to the bigger teams.
Either way, it’s a band-aid solution to a broken series. With so much of the revenues leaving and so little being done to market the sport properly, Formula One needs to rebuild from its very foundations.
Whether the collapse of Caterham and Marussia is enough for the rest of the competing teams to fight more aggressively against a system that desperately needs changing remains to be seen.
Sadly, though, they sold out long ago and appear powerless as long as they are contracted to the series. And self-interest has ruled for too long for teams to suddenly work together for a greater good.
Perhaps the only hope is for a complete collapse or breakaway series to escape the current flawed model. After all, if immediate action isn’t taken, Caterham and Marussia won’t be the only teams to go under.
Sauber, Lotus, Force India and even Williams are under significant financial stress. Red Bull props up two teams, McLaren is without a major sponsor this season and Ferrari and Mercedes are bankrolled by their road car divisions.
Formula One is in a perilous state and lacks the leadership to get itself out of the rut. With such an incredible global reach and so much more that could be done to promote itself, potentially opening up new revenue streams, it’s madness that the sport can’t fund itself.
A budget cap on team spending is the most immediate fix that needs to come in to ensure there are enough cars to justify a 2015 season. But the deeper fix is to somehow start again from the ground up.
woodart
Guest
18 cars in texas will not please the organisers who have to stump up huge amounts to get the circus to visit. as the article says, attendances are well down and sponsorship is getting increasingly hard to find. honda and toyota saw the writing on the wall and walked.toyota gets far more bang for its buck in nascar. the new head of ferrari faces an uphill battle to loosen the fiat purse strings, and ferrari gives F1 its kudos and publicity. if ferrari walk then its all over for the current corrupt regime.
Nicholas Belardo
Roar Guru
If you think this years new power units aren't an addition to bring relevancy, then you don't know jack about the power units at all.
Johnno
Guest
F1 is killing itself. As a sport it's removing all the elements of danger, that made it so appealing to fans, it's cash cow$. Over safe tracks,sanitizsed rules on overtaking, and pit-stop rules, over safe cars, it's highly removed the danger element which made it so appealing. And the personalities of the 1970's,80's,90's, there was a real rivalry there, now the personalities are all the same like robots. Back then F1 drivers were more than drivers, they were personalities,celebritities,playboys,rock stars.The culture of F1 has become too boring,unlike the flamboyant times of the past. And the banning of the loud engines has also taken out the noisy element of excitment. But the good old days of the James Hunt V Nicki Lauda,Prost V Piequet, Senna v Prost, or Mansell V Senna rivalries, or Damon Hill V Schumacer rivalries are all sadly a thing of the past.
Simoc
Guest
Another article of complete nonsense. Caterham and Marrussia should never have been in F1 and don't belong there. F1 has moved into China, Russia and the USA in recent years where fantastic facilities have been built. The noise thing is a change we will have to go through. Putting in fake noise may get the wallies through a transition period. There will always be new problems to be solved but the most expensive is the new engines. So introducing new engines and cutting costs wasn't a fit at present. As with all these things people find a way around restrictions put in place. There has been some excellent racing this season, as good as ever seen in F1. So some miss out on it. Who cares? Nitpicking nannies never go anywhere in life.
Nic
Guest
The engines are hybrids and have more relevance to the future of road car technology than their predecessor
Garry Edwards
Guest
That's what you get when you place an ex used car salesman as a CEO - A debacle! Sorry I've just got to laugh at the stupidity of the so called organisation it's a sham and always will be under that thieving geriatric.
f1nut
Guest
Bernie's gotta go. Don't know how but he is past it. Not sure there should be a cap. A better distribution of the revenue and prizemoney would help which is a sort of equalisation. A cap would inhibit R and D which would be to the detriment of F1 i think. Its always been cutting edge and a cap would stop teams from going for the next big new development IMO. I dont neccessarily think an 18 car grid is to bad but I agree that if nothing changes more teams will fold. On a tangent, do roarers know how it came to be that we have to ask teams whether or not an engine freeze can be lifted or not? Does not FOM or whoever is running F1 make the decisions and then the teams just have to abide by these decisions? Did the engine freeze come about to keep costs down? Because there was supposed to be a cap as well to keep costs down but that hasnt got up?
GD66
Guest
Can't ignore the over-complex engines, sorry power units, that are employed. Surely it ill behoves the alleged cutting edge of motorsport to develop future road car technology with economy as a criterion? The little V6 engines sound appalling, after F1 for ever has sounded eye-popping, and the Merc dominance and apparent endless corruption at the top level has soured plenty of casual and long-term viewers.....really, F1 racing in China, Abu Dhabi, Bahrain and Russia when France, the birthplace of motorsport is ignored is unacceptable. Ecclestone has been so corrupt for so long he no longer sees anything wrong with the state of play, and as outlined above, CVC have wheeled 4 billion dollars away without a blink, while teams down the back of the grid struggle to get to the races. A very sad state of affairs.
Nic
Guest
Funny thing is that some of the racing has been excellent It's just unfortunate that there are 2 races (Mercedes & others) happening within the same Grand Prix
Nic
Guest
Yes e.g. Mercedes supply Williams with engines To give you an indication of the scale of the problem, Marussia's budget this year was estimated at 70 million quid and the owner has closed the tap due to losses "Prize money" is distributed on a sliding scale with the most successful teams taking the lion's share (http://www.tsmplug.com/f1/formula-1-prize-money/) and naturally they also attract the most sponsorship Bottom line is that their is no financial incentive at present for the big teams to help out the also-rans This will only happen if F!'s owners pull the plug and that is unlikely to happen whilst their returns are so huge
Dooggy
Guest
Anything is better than watching this season of F1. Even when RB dominated they still had other cars pushing. This year there is a gap of 1-2 seconds per lap if Mercedes want to. Nobody wants to watch that.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
A cost cap as you say is an immediate fix, but the larger teams aren't going to play ball. They don't want to give up their grand motorhomes and stuff like that in order to allow the smaller teams to continue to operate at a good level. Look at the debate going on regarding the engine freeze at the moment. Ferrari and Renault support the lifting of it, whilst Mercedes-Benz wants it to remain. Whoever has the upper hand in Formula One is not readily going to give that up.
nordster
Guest
Do the bigger teams or engine manufacturers do any customer deals? Works well for motogp. Factory bikes and customer bikes...allows the big teams the freedom to develop while the smaller teams get access. Although they are shifting things again for 2016 with more shared technology. I would have thought an 18 car grid is not so bad. But then i am used to only 23 or so on the bikes.