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Formula One Racing Facing Split

It was only last year that the men who run open wheel racing in the United States finally wised up and ended the fued between the Indy Racing League and Champ Car and merged, giving open whell racing fans something they had not experienced for years: a single unified calendar of races. As luck and money would have it, just as Americans are enjoying the fruits of merger, the imperious head of the FIA and eight major teams of Grand Prix racing, organized as the Formula One Teams Association (FOTA) are engaged in a fight of their own. That fight has reached its unfortunate climax this week.

Yesterday, FOTA announced the formation of an alternative championship circuit to begin this summer with five events in Europe. FOTA claims that its series will attract "the major drivers, stars, brands, sponsors, promoters and companies historically associated with the highest level of motorsport." We'll see about that but given the teams belonging to FOTA, I wouldn't bet against them. It's unfortunate for racing fans to see a split like this, but it will be interesting to see how races not controlled by Bernie Ecclestone are run. I suspect that when everything is controlled by the teams, and run for the benefit of the teams, their sponsors and drivers and not for the economic benefit of one man and his family, we'll see a much better series.

Full post as published by Sports Biz on June 19, 2009 (boomark / email).