22/05/2015
NEWS STORY
Barely a week after F1's Strategy Group revealed its vision for the sport's future, there is dissent in the ranks.
And why wouldn't there be? After all, the proposal that the sport should consider customer cars - built by the likes of Red Bull at a time the team is threatening to leave the sport - would effectively drive some of the current teams, including at least one on the Strategy Group, out of business.
Force India's Robert Fernley, never one to hide his feelings, was not pulling his punches yesterday.
"I don't think the Strategy Group is fit for purpose and we should be looking at something where we have a clear programme that delivers results," he told reporters in Monaco.
"We've had eighteen months or two years of Strategy Group work with nothing coming out of it," he continued. "I think we need to look at the system in a better way.
"In days gone by, with Max and Bernie in charge, there would be none of that. We would know exactly where we're going. I don't think you should have the teams making decisions on where Formula One should go. The teams should be told where Formula One is going."
Barely had the words passed his lips than Christian Horner perfectly encapsulated the root of the sport's problems...
"It's rather predictable," he said. "Bob's going to ask for more money, Toto's going to not want to change anything and we want to change engines.
"Every team has its own agenda and it's going to fight its own corner," he continued. "The sport is governed by the FIA and it's promoted by FOM. It's those guys that need to get together and say 'what do we want Formula One to be?' Yes, we want it to go quicker, we want cars to be more aggressive to drive - but you're never going to keep everybody happy.
"Bernie and Jean need to get together and say "this is what we want the product to be, this is how it needs to be governed," and then give us the entry form and see if we want to enter or not. Because I think putting it in the team's environment to try and agree a set of regulations - you're never going to get everybody on the same piece of paper.
"The only thing the Strategy Group has unanimously agreed on and implemented this year is the fact that the drivers should wear the same crash helmet for the entire season," Horner added. "Is that success of the group? Not really. Is it a worthwhile forum? I think it is - but I think the structure of how regulations are implemented, that's what we need to look at.
"The promoter, he's promoting the show, he's got to sell a product and that product's got to be appealing to the fans. And he needs to be listening to the people. The people around the world: what do they want? What do they want Formula One to be? And then as teams, as competitors, we have to abide by a set of regulations that the FIA should write. Sporting and technical. And at that point you have a choice: whether you want to be in or be out. But every year, the entry form comes out and we all sign on the dotted line."
As Bernie Ecclestone prepares to fight the British tax authorities, which are demanding £1bn from the F1 supremo, Toto Wolff called on his colleagues to stop knocking the sport.
"I think we must stop talking the sport down," said the Austrian. "I've mentioned that a couple of times in here. And one of the rules we have established - and Bob is new to the group so maybe we have to reemphasise this - is that we shouldn't talk the sport down. We should push the sport up.
"We need all of you, plus us, to re-emphasise on the good points, on the attractive bits of the sport and try to make it better. It's not always an easy exercise."
Agreed, it's not an easy exercise, not when the sport is (seemingly) forever embroiled in scandal, when self-interest dominates the agenda and those viewers that tune into the sport every fortnight witness swathes of empty seats, diminished grids, cars almost devoid of logos and the powers-that-be telling them how good it really is.
Check out our Thursday gallery, here.